Perspectives for bio-energy villages

Bioenergy villages (BEV) - which are characterised among other things by the fact that at least half of the heat requirement of a village or a municipality is provided by biomass and distributed via a local heating network - already exist more than 140 times in Germany. For the most part, BEVs rely on biogas as their energy source. Studies show that most of the BEVs function well and that the actors and heat customers are satisfied with their heat supply. However, the prospects of these municipal concepts are endangered if the biogas plants (BGP) in Germany are not further developed and expanded so that they are fit for the future. It can even be feared that a large part of the existing BEVs will become uneconomical after 20 years of EEG-funding, as the continued operation of the plants without funding only appears possible under very special conditions. On the one hand, the input materials would have to be very inexpensive and consist as far as possible of residual materials and, on the other hand, the heat and electricity would have to be sold at a profitable and competitive price. Here, new business models and processes need to be established - also with greater integration of complementary renewable energy technologies - that secure a long-term perspective for BEV.

The "Perspectives bioenergy villages" project and real laboratory, which is a cooperation between the Institute of Economics and the Department of Solar and Systems Engineering at the University of Kassel and the Department of Geography (Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing) at the University of Göttingen, is starting at several points. In particular, the topics of waste recycling, electricity marketing (e.g. green electricity, regional flexibility markets) and complementary technologies are examined in detail. In addition to direct monitoring of the "transformation process" of two selected bioenergy villages (real laboratories), all bioenergy villages are integrated via a transfer platform (website).

Technical concepts for the operation of local heating networks after 20 years of EEG-funding are being developed in the Department of Solar and Systems Engineering. These concepts differ on the one hand in the provision of heat by the BGP, from no BGP-operation to today's BGP-operation with flexible mode. On the other hand, various technologies could supplement or replace the heat supply by the BGP, such as biomass boilers, solar thermal systems, large heat pumps or conventional technologies such as fossil-fuelled CHPs or peak-load boilers. With the development of a “kit for heat supply” based on dynamic annual simulations of the various heat supply concepts, BEVs will be provided a tool for orientation in order to better assess possible transformation paths of local heat supply.