PR - RENEWABLE ENERGY – OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRODUCTION AND USE OF ELECTRICAL POWER FOR FARMERS UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE RENEWABLE ENERGY ACT IN GERMANY

Abstract:

In Germany, the production of electricity from Renewables is grant-aided by the government for different reasons. As a consequence of this expensive way of energy production the prices for energy have increased respectable in the last ten years. To become more independent from increasing energy prices, this paper examines the opportunity for a farmer with feeder piglet production in Germany to use the energy from his own photovoltaic systems (PV). Therefore data from an exemplary farm were collected and in an economic model the quantities and costs for electrical supply were calculated regarding production, consumption, storage, and load management. In summary, farmers could reduce costs for the energy supply, if they used the energy directly without installing a storage system. Due to currently high costs for batteries an electrical storage system is still too expensive. Further it would be an opportunity to increase the rate of self-sufficiency and the rate of own consumption using load shifting. That means, farmers should use power consuming equipment, like for example a grist mill, which are flexible in their times of use, in the times of a high electricity production of the PV-plant.

Keywords: Renewable Energies, Renewable Energy Act, Production and Usage and Storage of Solar Energy, ‘Prosumer’, load shifting