“Early bird gets the worm” following the same strategy, we started the planning early in October 2021 to have good deals on the hostels and buses, and to respond to any cancellation beforehand whether it is from an institute or a service we booked. The excursion depended mostly on teamwork, in which we were divided into both organizing teams (bus team, youth hostel team, sightseeing team, first aid & hiking team & press & communication team) and institutions teams, whom each was responsible for the communication and the information required for the visit.
The institute visited were:
- Rammelsberg Besucherbergwerk
- SMA Solar Technology
- Windwise
- DLR in Cologne
- KIT Energy Centre
- NatürLich Insheim GmbH
- Walchensee Power Plant
- Brunnsteinhütte Mountain Hut
- Tennent TSO
On July 31, 2022, our journey began in front of Building W16A. At 6 AM the bus hit the road and began the journey to nine stops across Germany to explore the different renewable energy institutes. The travel carried on with an average of 3 to 4 hours travel between each city and 15 minutes or more breaks in between. The travel towards the next city usually was after each visit, in which we would settle down with the help of our hostel team and then do a wrap-up meeting of the visit done that day led by the institution team of the visit. The rest of the day was free for everyone to be enjoyed by exploring the new cities we were in or relaxing for the night.
Following is an outlook of each visit done in this excursion:
Day 1 - Sun. 31.07.2022, Rammelsberg Besucherbergwerk
„Glück auf! “. The journey started with an interesting insight in the „Besucherbergwerk Rammelsberg “, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. The first signs of ore and minerals mining can be traced back to about three thousand years ago, when people had gathered copper ore for the smelting of Bronze. Since more than a thousand years ago the Rammelsberg underwent continuous mining operations. We have visited the Roederstollen, operated in the 19th century, which started the industrialized utilization. At that time the mine has been driven by waterpower, which surprisingly has been renewable in the first place. The water was led into the mountain to large waterwheels that were driving the buckets lifting the ore to higher levels of the mine. In the 20th century this part of the mine has been abandoned and the mining operations continued being electrified from another entrance. It was very interesting to see all the different steps in the extraction of ore and the massive amount of manual labor and infrastructure. Nowadays the mine is out of operation since 1988, as there is no ore left to be mined.
Day 2 – Mon. 01.08.2022, SMA Solar Technology in Kassel
The second day started in Kassel with SMA Solar Technology. With a global market share of about 9% it is one of the biggest players in the industry. The company produces power equipment and solar system technologies such as electricity converters. These devices are used to control photovoltaic installations and battery storage systems and can support everything from a small home system up to larger regional grids. We have looked at the company in general and at their solar academy in particular. The academy is a building solely running on Photovoltaic power, battery storage and a combined heat and power generator which is running on biomatter. Here all technicians are being taught in allekinds of systems and visitors can get a feeling for the capabilities of a modern energy managed house. This building was built by one of the founders of the company, who had an objective to prove it is possible to achieve 100% dependency on renewable energy through this building. It was inspiring to see; how big companies don ́t focus only on profit but how they are still trying to make a change in the energy systems and the world. We have further discussed the necessity of a society-based structural change, that is needed to go into a future relying only on renewable energies. This includes the installation of energy storage systems and an enhanced transmission grid to be able to manage the produced electrical power.
Day 3 – Tue. 02.08.2022, windwise in Münster
After an adventurous trip through the traffic challenges and building sites of Münster we arrived at the engineering service provider „windwise“on Tuesday morning. Windwise is a company of 18 employees that offer engineering consulting to large wind turbine operators and manufacturers and currently develop a new turbine mainly funded by the NRW government. It was very exciting to see a relatively small engineering office, being involved in a lot of wind energy developments, in contrast to SMA which had multiple thousand employees. A big point of the discussion has again been the necessity of not only installing new efficient energy sources but also improving the complete electrical grid and storage infrastructure. This is a very important step in the German energy transition, that really must be addressed more by the politics in the near future.
Day 4 – Wed. 03.08.2022, DLR in Cologne
The visit of German aerospace center DLR in Cologne, which is the second largest among 30 other locations around Germany, was an interesting and fruitful experience. It began of an overview of DLR work and different research topics. We were divided into two groups and did tours simultaneously starting with different centers, in which we visited the space travel research building, which was fascinating to see the prototype of the international space station and learn how the operation and training of the astronauts is being conducted. We also were shown the control room and two different missions where they used probes to investigate objects in the solar system, in which the technology used in this mission was displayed and explained. The most interesting part of the visit was learning about the Energy research sections, in which they work on developing solar thermal energy and storage using molten salt. Overall, the visit of the German aerospace center was a great additive to learn about the different research done there and the professional aspect of working in such a large institute.
Day 5 – Fri. 04.08.2022, KIT Energy Centre in Karlsruhe
On the early morning of August 4th (fifth day of the excursion) and after a more needed rest the day before, we went to KIT Energy Center (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), which is one of the largest energy research centers in Europe. The visit to the energy center was very productive, where a lecture was conducted to explain the different sections of the center and the different projects the research institute is working on. The huge center consisted of different research laboratory which were introduced to us (i.e., Energy Lab, Energy smart home, Network Lab in DLR Oldenburg & ForschungCenter in Jülich), we also had the opportunity to see some of the labs in real live like, the Energy Lab and the Energy smart home and some solar systems. A fascinating thing about the institute outside the size of the institute was the big scope of different the projects the institute is tackling, from solar energy, wind turbines, storage, network structure, Geothermal and much more, all to accomplish their mission of research in innovation & Energy.
Day 6 – Thurs. 04.08.2022, NatürLich Insheim GmbH near Karlsruhe
After spending two days in Karlsruhe, we spent the last weekday in a geothermal power plant in Insheim. Here hot thermal water is pumped to the surface from over 3500m depth, having a temperature from 165°C. The heat is used to drive a turbine to generate electricity. In the next few years it is also planned to implement district heating to nearby housholds and to use the thermal water as a potential Lithium source. It was great to learn about this topic, as it is not covered in our study programs at the university. Also some of our group had a background in oil production and we could really benefit from their experiences, as there are certain similarities but also large differences between oil and geothermal drilling and production. There is still a large potential left for geothermal and lithium extraction in Germany and maybe now some of us will be working in this field in the future.
Day 7 – Sat. 06.08.2022, Free day in Munich
On the free day we had agreed on spending it doing an activity where the whole group can participate. We headed to the Deutsches Museum and got the opportunity to learn about the history of movies, robotics, chemistry, physics and airplanes. It was very interesting to hear the stories with a very interactive guide tour who told us about the stories in an intriguing way. After the tour ended, the group divided and everyone got to do their own thing, some went sightseeing and some went to relax in the hostel. In the evening, there was meeting with some of the alumni of PPRE over dinner and stories were exchanged.
Day 8 – Sun. 07.08.2022, Walchensee Power Plant
Leaving Munich behind, we headed out in the early morning to Walchensee Hydro Power Plant 12.8 MW, which quote “might not be the biggest hydro power plant in Germany, but the nicest one”. We started our tour in the power plant with a background of the power plant the vision behind it to electrify Bavaria after the first world war and the water bodies feeding the plant which consist of the Walchensee, Isar river and other small rivers feeding the Walchensee. The explanation of the operation of the power plant and the use of water throughout the different seasons of the year was easy to follow with the help of a miniature model of the whole plant and surrounding area and of course a very helpful tour guide. Afterwards, we were shown the pipeline which is well preserved and the machine room with all the turbines. The visit was very inspiring to see how the founder Oscar von Miller was able to execute his goal at that time and keeping it simple and safe by preventing flooding with a canal and the continuous development of the plant to make the most use of it, especially to stabilize the grid when needed.
Day 7 to Day 10 - Sun. 07.08.2022 to Tues. 09.08.2022, Brunnsteinhütte Mountain Hut
After finishing the visit of the hydro power plant, we departed straight to the point, where we started our hike up to the Brunnsteinhütte. Before starting the hike, we did some stretches with help of our hiking team, who led the group up the mountain to the hut following a moderate and steady pace, so everyone is together and doing some resting breaks in between until we reach the 1500m high hut, where we enjoyed hot meal and the view from above. The next day we went on a voluntary hike to the mountain peak. Afterwards, the hut owner introduced us to the operation of the hut, which depends on renewable energy for providing services and operating the hut using hybrid PV System, hydropower, and battery. The next day we started our journey back following the same path and thus concluding an adventurous and pleasant experience.
Day 11 – Wed. 10.08.2022, Tennent TSO in Bayreuth
Tennet TSO GmbH was our last stop before heading back to Oldenburg. It can be said it was a nice way to end with one of the biggest companies in Germany as transmission system operator. The visit started at the Company’s reception, where we got our visitor passes, then we were showed to 3 conference meeting rooms, where a seminar was conducted to explain the company’s tasks, the electricity market and the challenges faced in the integration of wind and solar energy in the grid. In addition to the technical of the grid, the interconnection with some neighboring countries and the projects which the company is working on. This visit gave us an insightful on the how the grid in Germany is operated and expand over the years.
The excursion provided not only professional prospective and how a small and big companies operate, but also how both deal with the challenges they face. For conclusion we can say that the excursion was very productive and unique experience. We learnt a lot about the industry of renewable energy and the struggles faced by these companies and institutes to promote for sustainability. In addition, we did some sightseeing individually and in groups in the free time, exploring and enjoying the beautiful cities we were in and shared the experience with classmates and friends who have different backgrounds and cultures. The excursion was an amazing experience, and it would not have happened without everyone working together in simultaneous way in teams and with the helpful guide and supervision of Dr. Hans-Gerhard Holtorf and Ms. Jasmin Rehmeier.
- written by Lubna Albashir (SuRE 21-23) and Timo Hülsmann (Enginnering Physics 20-22)