Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Light, sound, drink cooling, all powered by the demonstration
plant, the procedure became somewhat delayed but was finished
in time before the batteries were discharged, just in time to avoid
start-up of the noisy backup diesel. A certain pioneer atmosphere
was underlined by a footwalk to the cosy pub in this remote
European location at the rough Irish Sea, which had damaged
previous undersea cables. Was it possible that this was the first
impression of what was going to become the future of Europe's
energy system?
20.3 
European Modular Systems Technology
Within Kassel's newly founded Institut für Solare Energiever-
sorgungstechnik
(ISET), I built up the systems technology research
and technology development, devoted to the technical integration
of the diferent renewable energy technologies into entire energy
systems. Before the feed-in law introduced in Germany in 1991,
that completely changed everything, islands and remote locations
appeared to be the most reachable markets for wind and sun
energy and that was what we focused on. Fortunately, Wolfgang
Palz from Brussels had stimulated the foundation of a number
of European Economic Interest Groupings in the renewable
energies field. At their core, I participated in the 1991 Cork meeting
founding EUREC Agency with the goal of joining European forces
for research and development of renewable energy technologies,
in between representing some 50 European research centres.
It was not only meeting the founding researchers of the initial
handful of European players in the field and having marvellous
dinners, it was tough work as well, as these meetings were the
occasions to set up the networked European projects. Often, well
timed as the last opportunity to get all the signatures and forwarding
the polished proposals to Brussel's before the Commission's
strict deadline. On the occasion of our Petten meeting, as one of
the first EUREC Agency projects, the MEGA-Hybrid initiative was
born. The core idea was addressing the problem of integration, that
is, to develop a technology that would allow to progress from the
status of engineering single installations forward to a technology
of systems. Thus, megawatts of plants combining use of wind, solar
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