The three core activities described in the ProjectZero Masterplan 2029 and Roadmap 2015 are substantial energy efficiency measures, converting the energy supply to the areas own renewable sources and transforming the grid into a dynamic system, a so-called Smart Grid. This means that the infrastructure supplying and producing our energy must be replaced and new infrastructure built.
Green District Heating
A mainstay in the ProjectZero Masterplan and the road to ZEROcarbon is green district heating. ProjectZero supports an expansion of existing district heating networks in the municipality and the conversion.
Read more about the world’s best district heating here
The answer is blowing in the wind
As fossil fuels become more and more scarce and energy prices are steadily to increasing the energy system of the future will largely be based on electricity. Generating electricity for electrical cars, heat pumps, lighting, appliances, industrial processes and much more without using fossil fuels is a big challenge.
So far the cheapest and most effective way of producing CO2-neutral electricity is by using modern wind turbines. Turbines rated at 2,3 MW and above are now the standard and can supply more than 1.000 households with climate friendly power. The challenge lies in finding suitable places to install these massive structures. Already 3 projects are underway in the Sonderborg-area, expanding the areas CO2-neutral power supply by more than 21 MWs of installed capacity and many more are coming.
In cooperation with the Danish Ministry of the Environment Sonderborg Municipality has screened the Sonderborg-area for possible new locations, a screening that has resulted in 13 new possible locations for placing more than 75 MWs of installed wind turbine capacity. There is a great interest for participating in coming projects among private citizens and businesses alike.
Read more about ProjectZero’s costal-near wind turbine activities here.
Biogas offers versatility from farming waste products
Biogas is a versatile energy source, having the potential to replace fossil fuels in transportation, district heating or industrial processes. ProjectZero works actively to establish two biogas facilities in the Sonderborg-area, processing more than 500.000 tons of substrate consisting of waste and manure from the farming community, organic industrial waste and much more. The biogas facility has the added advantage of providing a major reduction in the farming community’s direct GHG emissions as well as providing better fertilizer and less dilution of unwanted components into the rivers, lakes and groundwater.
A dynamical energy system – the Smart Grid
The energy infrastructure requires a robust, yet flexible energy system that is able to incorporate and take full advantage of the many new renewable energy sources. Such a system is often called a Smart Grid and ProjectZero is working to establish a world class Smart Grid system in the Sonderborg-area. This requires new consumption habits, new technologies and new concepts and business models. It also means coming up with new ways of storing energy and new ways of generating energy at decentralized facilities.
Storing energy in an underground balloon
Two engineers from Sonderborg are developing an energy storage concept that can store excess energy from wind turbines and other RE sources. The concept is to pump water into a shallow water balloon, covering an area of 20 acres and putting 25 meters of sand on top providing counter pressure.
Instead of selling excess offshore wind energy cheaply abroad, the excess energy will be used to pump seawater into the balloon. When power consumption increases, the water balloon shall be opened to reverse the process. The many tons of earth push the water through turbines and generate electricity. An area of 20 acres will store 200 MWh with a capacity of 30 MW and be able to supply the entire island of Als with energy for eight hours.
Every household will be its own power plant!
Dantherm Power has invented a revolutionary micro-CHP (Combined Heating and Power) plant for individual households. It operates on fuel cells and can produce both electricity and heat. This means that energy can be sent back into the grid and sold to power companies when residents do not use all the energy produced by the plant.
If Denmark's 750,000 natural gas and oil burners were replaced by micro-CHP plants with a capacity of 1 kilowatt, it would reduced the country’s CO2-emissions by 1.6 million. tons per year. Currently, micro-CHP plants are in a test phase that runs until 2012. In this phase 50 plants are tested in the Sonderborg-area and 50 plants tested in Lolland. After 2012 it is expected that micro-CHP plants will be rolled out to a broader population.