Berlin

Energy Transition In Berlin

With the Berlin Energy Turnaround Act, Berlin established the ambitious goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050. The focus lies on a shift toward a distributed, flexible, renewable, secure and socially acceptable energy supply in Berlin that combines the electricity, heat and mobility sectors. It also allows citizens to participate, voice their opinions and benefit from affordable energy. The rapidly progressing decarbonisation of the energy supply makes an important contribution to this goal. The generation of electricity based on lignite was already ended in 2017. And the departure from hard coal – while maintaining the same security of supply of electricity and district heating – is being implemented through a realignment of the production until 2030. The newly established Berliner Stadtwerke acts as a driver of increased solar utilisation on the rooftops of Berlin and in particular the use of photovoltaics on public properties. Moreover, citizens have the possibility within the framework of the landlord-to-tenant electricity supply models of various providers to actively participate in the energy transition. Berlin is also conscious of its role as both a reliable and innovative energy consumer, embedded in a surrounding region where renewable generation frequently exceeds local demand. With intelligent energy technology solutions for a distribution system that satisfies the conditions of both supply and demand while integrating storage, load flexibility and sector coupling – in part through the electrification of urban transportation – Berlin can make key contributions to the success of a power generation paradigm in the region that is increasingly based on renewables.

Key organisations of the Berlin-Brandenburg energy technology cluster representing the energy trading and technology industries as well as science and research have initiated the cross-regional WindNODE consortium because the technical, economic and societal challenges of the energy transition standing in the way of intelligent control of the energy system can only be effectively overcome through cooperation across state borders and in recognition of the regional interdependencies of a renewable energy supply system. The Berlin senate expressly supports the approach of the WindNODE consortium to intelligently intertwine a collection of specific energy transition projects from renewable generation to distribution and innovative consumption and thereby to document how the energy transition can be made technically feasible and economically viable.

More information can be found at: https://www.berlin.de/sen/wirtschaft/en/