Brandenburg is a traditional energy centre, which was characterised mainly by its brown-coal power generation in the Lusatia region for a long time. Today the energy landscape of Brandenburg is also marked by the high number of plants that generate electricity and heat from renewable energies. By 2017, Brandenburg had already covered 19,6 percent of its primary energy consumption through renewable energies. Regenerative energies are proving to be the driving force behind economic growth.
Germany is embracing the energy revolution, and the course is being increasingly set in Berlin/Brandenburg. A good 6,500 companies and teams at over 30 universities and non-university research institutes are addressing all the challenges associated with this enormous task: They’re developing solutions and ideas to generate energy resourcefully, to distribute it intelligently, to store it sensibly and to use it efficiently.
To forge ahead with the cross-border innovation process in energy technology, the states of Berlin and Brandenburg launched Cluster Energietechnik Berlin Brandenburg (the Berlin-Brandenburg Energy Technology Cluster) in 2011.
The strength of local research and development is based, among other things, on networking. Since 2011, companies and scientific institutions in the whole of Berlin/Brandenburg have been working together in the energy technology cluster. By pooling their expertise, the participants can achieve the optimal transfer of scientific knowledge into industrial processes and products.
For the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, the integration of regenerative energies and the resulting requirements and opportunities for storage, distribution networks and sector coupling (heat supply, energy storage, mobility etc.) is a major research topic. The Brandenburg companies in the energy technology sector are also increasingly recognising these topics as an opportunity for new products, services and business areas.
The energy transition laboratory of Ketzin is testing the energetic coupling of the electricity, heating and mobility sectors and one of the largest battery storage facilities in Europe is located in the energy-self-sufficient village of Feldheim. In the Prenzlau hybrid power plant, “green hydrogen” is generated from regenerative energies.