South Tyrol Is the Leading Region in Italy for Sustainable Living and Tourism

Review Storage & mobility Hydrogen for South Tyrol

The Institute for Innovative Technologies (IIT) in Bolzano, Italy, plans to realize a network of hydrogen refilling stations in the provincial territory as part of the “green corridor” from Munich to Verona in which energy would be supplied by local renewable sources. Photos (3): IIT

South Tyrol is the leading region in Italy for sustainable living and tourism. The goal of Governor Luis Durnwalder is to cover 70 % of the energy demand in his province with energy from renewable sources by 2013.

he government of South Tyrol is implementing gion is 74.5 kW per 1,000 inhabitants and installed various strategies to make living or residing in solar thermal collector area is 500 m2 per 1,000 in- Tthis alpine region as sustainable as possible. habitants according to 2010 data from the Province For example, cars have been banned on Alpe di Siusi, of Bolzano Office of Energy. the largest alpine plateau in Europe. Instead, tourists Tackling the problem of transportation is current- and residents use cable cars to reach the mountains ly one of the most important and unresolved issues in in a more sustainable way. South Tyrol’s integrated the region. The toll road system provides a connection public transportation system, which uses special for heavy trucks and tourist traffic rolling from Munich “mobilcards”, offers visitors a cheap and easy alter- across the alpine Brenner Pass through Bolzano to native to hiring a car. The three- or seven-day passes Verona in the south. The Brenner Base Tunnel, a 64 km allow visitors to use bikes, trains, buses and even long horizontal railroad tunnel, currently under con- cable cars for as long as the cards are valid. In future, struction, forms the central part of the TEN Nr.1 Walter Huber, Head of the Institute for Innovative (Trans European Network) connecting Berlin, Germany Technologies (IIT) in Bolzano, Italy, wants to take this with Palermo in Sicily, Italy. Some 70 % of the track is mobility concept one step further to include freeways already serviceable, 20 % is under construction, and and public transport. 10 % is in the planning phase. The new railroad line is Northern Italy, next to the Austrian border, is one designed for high capacity and high speed. of the most advanced regions with regard to energy efficiency in buildings and energy generation from re- A green corridor newable sources, such as hydropower, photovoltaics and solar thermal heating. The installed capacity per The regional governments from three countries inhabitant is above the European average in these (Germany, Austria, and Italy) have decided to work to- sectors. For example, installed PV-capacity in the re- gether to develop a “green corridor” from Munich to

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Verona in which energy would be supplied by local renewable sources. The plan applies to the railroad, the highway and the whole civil sector. A special working group at IIT, has been established with the aim of implementing the plan in the five regions along the corridor: Bavaria (Germany), Tyrol (Austria), South Tyrol (Italy), Trento (Italy) and Verona (Italy). South Tyrol is blessed with hydropower plants with annual average overproduction. Nevertheless in the wintertime, when hydropower production is low due to the snow in the mountains and the low water level in the rivers, the region needs to buy electricity from abroad, electricity mainly produced from fossil or nuclear sources. Only the biggest plants have water reservoirs to balance production with the actual demand; 95 % of the plants run by direct diversion of the water from the rivers. At night and during low con- sumption periods the plants produce an excess of electricity, which cannot be stored, as the public grid has no storage capacity. Based on data from IIT, con- siderable overproduction is also created by photo- voltaic electricity and wind farms, which all require storage capability to increase their efficiency. Key to a new area

Huber explained: “Hydrogen is the key to creating a new era of renewable energy with high efficiency and great benefits, but only if we realize all the features, which hydrogen can offer. Buying cars with fuel cells, China's International buying hydrogen from the market, delivering hydrogen over long distances or producing it with fossil Exhibition and Conference fuels do not create a sustainable future. However, if for the Solar Industry implemented correctly, economic and ecologic ad- vantages will all come together nicely and make a China International Exhibition well-rounded solution.” In fact Hydrogen and renew- Center (CIEC), Beijing able energy sources seem to be a perfect match. Both are produced at decentralized locations and create a Intersolar China presents the latest trends in the new electricity supply concept: they can form a basis fastest growing solar market. for small and middle-sized independent networks Tap into the unique potential of one of the top which are the basis of the big supply chains – a solar hot spots bottom-up solution, rather than the top-down solu- Benefit from major synergy effects due tion as it is the case in existing grids. to Intersolar China’s co-location with the The government of South Tyrol has decided to be Clean Energy Expo and the CIPV Expo. on the forefront of initiatives to usher in the hydrogen Meet and network with 380 exhibitors era. A center for hydrogen production in Bolzano/ Get connected! Bolzano is under construction. The new plant for H 2-production will have an initial capacity of 500 kg H2 per day, which can be doubled later if needed. Also, connected to the plant will be a refilling station for buses (350 bar) and cars (700 bar). To make the project attractive, the station is positioned on the Bolzano/Bolzano South highway exit loop and is highly visible to the 50,000 cars passing every day or coming from the town center. Technology transfer and public outreach were al- ways key components of this project. The plant is therefore designed to be accessible to visitors. Citizens can get information about the new technolo- Co-located with gy and about its common benefits. For example, schools and drivers can find out about the new tech- Exhibit now! nology, as well as the architects and engineers who

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design public and private garages, buildings and hydrogen technologies, create service stations, other facilities. The plant is also equipped with develop new applications, and so forth. laboratories for its own research and development In future, IIT plans to design further production activities. IIT is taking the lead in the planning and and refilling stations along the highway from Munich implementation of the plant, and coordinating all of to Verona in at least 100 km increments, accessible its research and development initiatives, such as both from the highway and nearby areas. These facil- creating a hydrogen research network with univer ities are part of the green corridor concept. A network sities and other regional and international institu- of refilling stations in the provincial territory will be at tions. It will also encourage local industry to invest in a distance every 20 km. Christian Tasser A concept to

face our future power

S&WE: What applications S&WE: Is energy storage usage are best suited to based on market demand or hydrogen? driven by regulations for re- Walter Huber: For energy newables and smart grids or storage we have had to rely hydrogen in transportation? on batteries – for smaller Huber: Hydrogen energy capacities – and we had to storage needs both market pump water to elevated demand and incentives water reservoirs to cover through regulatory support. large peak demands The smart grid will be able to (limited to alpine regions). distribute energy from distrib- Hydrogen can offer an ad- uted sources and storage de- ditional opportunity for ca- vices and inject them into the pacities over 100 kW. Walter Huber, Head of the Institute grid whenever needed. The Hydrogen conversion has for Innovative Technologies (IIT) in problem we are facing is that an energy efficiency of Bolzano, Italy presenting the concept 50 % of the population lives in about 68 %. If the gen of the “green corridor” cities, while the other 50 % are erated heat and oxygen are in regional areas, where distri- used, the efficiency is bution is costly and inefficient. 90 %. Hydrogen can be stored over extended The technology still needs to be developed; regu- periods in both summer and winter. The use of lations need to support integrated concepts, hydrogen storage for smart grid applications is which will become a reality maybe 5 years from still in the visionary stage. The technology for now. South Tyrol is taking the first step to cover electrolysis and hydrogen storage is still under the region with hydrogen fueling stations for the development. We might be looking at a 5 year motorway which will connect to Berlin in the time frame to be ready for the market. Solar ther- north to Palermo in the south. South Tyrol is con- pow·er [ˈpaʊ·ər] mal storage on the other hand is already in use in vinced that the implementation of hydrogen tech- Spain. In Arizona there are molten salt storage nology is a concept with which to face our future, Global supplier of high-quality PV modules and flagship company of facilities used in practical applications. but only if we consider it as an open system with multiple opportunities along the way to creating top10 Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group. S&WE: What are the market barriers to hydro- a world of renewable energy. It reduces the de- gen for energy storage and transportation? pendency on fossil fuels and big suppliers. It re- Huber: High investment costs, that the technol duces energy losses and enables local supply ogy isn’t yet ready for full-scale implementation chains but, in addition, it creates a number of and will only make sense if hydrogen is used in benefits for the region: know-how, competitive- an integrated system that includes renewable ness, social and physical well-being, quality new Hanwha SolarOne GmbH | Oskar-Messter-Straße 13 | 85737 Ismaning | Germany energy sources, energy storage and hydrogen jobs, protection of the environment and reduc- +49-89-2175-667-30 | [email protected] | www.hanwha-solar.com energy conversion to electricity or vehicle tion of the global effects of climate change. fueling. The interview was conducted by Christian Tasser.

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pow·er [ˈpaʊ·ər] Global supplier of high-quality PV modules and flagship company of top10 Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group.

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