Turbomachinery for flexible power plants and a successful energy transition
Germany's future energy supply system will differ significantly from today's system. The technological challenge will be to use fossil-fuelled power plants to provide the residual load between generation from renewable energies and consumption at the right time and at the highest technical level.
With its ECOFlex-turbo R&D programme, AG Turbo intends to support the goals of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) on this future path to the energy transition.
Germany's future energy supply system will be very different from today's. With its collaborative projects, the ECOFlex-turbo R&D programme is making important contributions to implementing the energy transition so that Germany remains a competitive industrial location with a high level of security of supply, effective climate protection measures and an economically viable energy supply.
The technological challenge is to use fossil-fuelled power plants to provide the residual load between generation from renewable energies and consumption at the right time and at the highest technical level. This type of new generation of power plants opens up additional opportunities on the global market, which will develop in a similar way to the German market in the future.
In the course of the energy transition, the proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy sources has risen sharply. Their volatile nature places ever greater demands on the electricity grid. To ensure security of supply and stabilise voltage and frequency, electricity generation using turbomachinery in thermal power plants will therefore continue to be necessary. This sets out the key issues and objectives that also affect the further development of electricity generation from fossil and renewable fuels.
The desired reduction in primary energy demand in Germany by 50% by 2050 and a simultaneous increase in the share of renewable energies to 80% can only be achieved by increasing energy efficiency in the energy conversion chain from the generation, transmission and utilisation of electricity. At the same time, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in electricity generation remains a key issue in achieving climate policy goals. Increasing the efficiency of turbomachinery and optimising its production should reduce the costs of the technologies and their pollutant emissions. The aim of making turbomachinery more flexible as an extension of the above-mentioned research priorities will also take account of the increased demands on the controllability of electricity generation.
This goes hand in hand with maintaining and increasing the international competitiveness of both German companies and research institutions and creating sustainable, high-quality jobs.
