Innovations at Amprion

How will the climate-neutral energy system of the future work? How can different energy sources (electricity, gas and hydrogen) and sectors (industry, mobility and heat supply) be thought of and planned in an integrated way? Because everything is connected to everything else, doing so requires complex scenarios to be calculated. To this end, Amprion has developed an Energy System Modelling and Analysis (ESMA) process that combines various methods and tools to model and analyse the energy system of the future. This includes, for example, the “Light Integrated System Analysis” (LISA), which can be used to map the energy system across sectors. Based on assumptions, this tool can depict energy and transport requirements, imports and exports, prices, and CO2 emissions, among other things. Amprion has made this modelling expertise available to partners from business and politics, associations, and NGOs in the  “Systemvision2050” project in order to jointly discuss the requirements for a climate-neutral energy system.

The restructuring of the energy system is progressing: conventional power plants are gradually being shut down. Up to now, they have made an important contribution to grid stability by compensating for short-term frequency and voltage fluctuations. These tasks must now be taken over by other assets, for which we are relying on various innovative technologies and concepts. For example, the most powerful hybrid systems for power factor correction can be found at Amprion: the first of its kind in our grid was commissioned at the Kriftel substation near Frankfurt/Main. It consists of two units: a mechanically switched capacitor with damping network (MSCDN) and a “Static Synchronous Compensator” (STATCOM). An identical unit can be found at the Kusenhorst substation in Haltern am See.

Black-start capable plants can start up under their own power and without energy supply from outside. This is what makes them so valuable for rebuilding electricity grids in the event of a collapse. Until now, conventional power plants have provided this system service. Amprion is now working to ensure that offshore wind farms connected to the electricity grid are also included in grid reconstruction concepts. Partners include wind farm operators, manufacturers and universities.

When expanding the grid, the aim is to keep interference with nature to a minimum. To prevent uncontrolled leakage of drilling fluid from the flushing circuit when laying underground cables using flush drilling, Amprion has successfully tested and implemented a new, modified flush drilling method. In future, route planners will therefore have an additional tool at their disposal for the trenchless and near-surface laying of cables over long distances.

With new types of online monitoring systems, information about the condition of the grid and the effects of grid operation can be processed in real time. At Amprion, new systems are continuously being tested and introduced. This includes measuring the temperature and moisture of the soil in the immediate vicinity of underground cable routes. Amprion started doing this in spring 2022 along the German-Belgian interconnector ALEGrO. This will make it possible to assess how underground cable operation affects soil properties. The project is being implemented in cooperation with scientists and soil experts.

Big-Data Platform for the digitalisation of working methods

The amount of data processed by Amprion is constantly growing. At the same time, the need for data analysis for various purposes is likewise increasing. To make data for such applications available more quickly and more easily for different specialist areas, Amprion relies on new types of tools for data management and data analysis. The basis of this Big-Data platform is the “Amprion Data Lake” (ADLA). This platform prepares data from various sources in such a way that it is readily available for different use cases and can be used flexibly.