biovolatil
The aim of the ‘biovolatil’ project is to make the energy supply of municipalities more resilient. To this end, self-sufficient and climate-neutral solutions for energy generation and storage are being developed based on sustainable biomass and geothermal storage. Since electricity from solar and wind power fluctuates depending on the weather, as does energy demand, local balancing is important. The use of biomass gasifiers with combined heat and power plants (BV-BHKW) and geothermal storage systems (UTES) can improve this balancing and reduce the load on the electricity grids.
The gasification technology utilises previously unused potentials of sustainable biomass. Depending on the type, BG-CHP systems are suitable for different control ranges. Additionally, experiments are conducted on a commercial BG-CHP in the project to optimize usability and generate data for modelling. UTES provide a seasonal heat balance and increase the efficiency of the BG-CHP. Mid-depth UTES are best suited for this due to the higher temperature level. Seasonal loading operation also increases their efficiency.
To demonstrate practicability, an urban and a rural example community are examined. These are evaluated regarding their potentials for biomass availability and geothermal energy. Additionally, energy data is collected to display the integration of the new concept into the existing system. The result of the site evaluation then feeds into an optimisation of the local energy system, focusing on the volatile energy balance supported by BG-CHP and UTES.
The results are subsequently evaluated in terms of their greenhouse gas savings, autonomy to improve resilience, and economic viability. Scenario development based on specific local results also takes place, enabling the transfer of the concept to other locations.
Within the project, ifeu is responsible for the sector analysis and economic evaluation of the heat demand, the environmental assessment of the technical concepts, the derivation of biomass potentials and finally the transferability analysis with regard to the environmental assessment.
Runtime
August 2025 – July 2028
Funding
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWE)
Partner
Fraunhofer-Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits- und Energietechnik UMSICHT (Verbundkoordinator)
Fraunhofer-Einrichtung für Energieinfrastrukturen und Geothermie (IEG) (Verbundpartner)
Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz (Verbundpartner)
Burkhardt GmbH (Verbundpartner)
EnProCo Berlin GmbH (Verbundpartner)
Energieversorgung Oberhausen AG (Praxispartner)
Stadtwerke Zittau GmbH (Praxispartner)
Contact
Sebastian Blömer
sebastian.bloemer@ifeu.de
+49 (0)6221 4767 28
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Yanik Acker
yanik.acker@ifeu.de
+49 (0)6221 4767 108
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Nils Rettenmaier
nils.rettenmaier@ifeu.de
+49 (0) 6221 4767 24
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Dr. Maximilian Breyer
maximilian.breyer@ifeu.de
+49 (0)6221 4767 99
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