E. ON is the largest investor-owned energy services providers in the world. It is based in Dusseldorf, Germany and operates in more than 30 countries. It has been very involved in providing clean, better energy for all their customers and for the world. Here are just a few of the highlights associated with E. On and their clean technology endeavors.
1) E. On’s New Wind Farm Approved by the Government. In February 2011, the Department for Energy and Climate Change granted E. ON permission to erect an offshore wind farm that would provide 230 megawatts of electricity. The wind farm will be located about eight kilometers off the Holderness Coast in Yorkshire and will provide up to 150,000 residential homes with renewable, clean energy. It will be the fifth offshore wind farm E. On is to provide to the United Kingdom.
2) Wind Power. E. On is one of the top ten wind power operators around the globe. Throughout the United States and Europe E. On operates a number of onshore plants that have the installed capacity of more than 3,000 megawatts. The offshore wind farm off of the English coast in Robin Rigg is supplying over 110,000 homes with energy. E. On, in a partnership with Alpha Ventus, build the first far shore deep water wind farm that is approximately 45 kilometers off the German North Sea Coast and in 30 meters of deep water.
3) E. On Opens the First Fast Charging Station for Electric Vehicles in Germany. In August of 2011, E. On announced that it is starting to provide fast charging stations for electric vehicles driving along motorways in Germany. The first station was installed on August 24 at the Irschenberg exit off of the A8 motorway in Bavaria. It has a charging capacity of 50 kilowatts and will recharge a car in 20 to 30 minutes. E. On is looking to further develop public charging stations to offer a quicker solution to those driving electric vehicles. “Fast charging stations definitely make electric vehicles more versatile,” said Ruth Werhahn, who manages E.ON’s E-mobility projects. “Fast charging stations make it possible to cope well with greater distances of 150 to 200 km, for example from Munich to Salzburg or from Stuttgart to Frankfurt.”
4) Solar Power. E. On is committed to all forms of renewable energy, including solar energy. Their Climate and Renewables strategy covers both photovoltaic and concentrated solar power. Most of the photovoltaic activities are located in France and Italy where there are over 300 megawatts. E. On and Abengoa Solar created a partnership whereby they are operating and owning two 50 megawatt concentrating solar power plants in southern Spain.
5) Biomass. E. On is one of the international technology leaders for biomass exploitation. They have a number of biomass plants throughout Germany that have a combined output of 30 megawatts. E. On also operates Lockerbie, Scotland’s largest biomass power plant, which has an installed capacity of 44 megawatts and provides approximately 70,000 households with electricity and eliminates the output of 140,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
6) Wave Energy. E. On has been researching and developing marine energy technologies for more than a decade. In the year 2005, E. On created a new, specialized development team to further investigate different tidal and wave technologies to create a new portfolio of different projects. One of the primary projects developed by E. On has been the Pelamis Wave Energy Project. It is the first big investment E. On has made in wave power. It has the capacity to generate 750 kilowatts of power and is located off the coast of Edinburgh, Scotland.
7) Smart Grids. E. On has taken on the smart grid challenge. Over one-hundred of E. On’s projects are looking to utilize different aspects of smart grid technology. These aspects focus on “Findings regarding power flow and its dependence on wind, sun, consumer behavior, batteries (for example in electric cars), integration in existing system landscape (network control systems) and the identification of suitable components for communications technology in transformer substations, electrical substations and network control stations.”
8 ) Electric Vehicles. E. On has been very active in the promotion of their electric vehicles market launch supported by a number of activities and projects. E. On looks to assist with the utilization of electric vehicles in an effort to make transportation less dependent on the use of fossil fuels as well as make it a lot cleaner. The more vehicles on the road that utilize electricity, the fewer modern transport ventures that will require oil.
9) E. On Research Initiative. The E. On Research Initiative is the company’s annual grant program. Established in 2007, the initiative supports research teams at institutes and universities on a large number of different topics relevant to the energy industry. So far, E. On has invested more than 18 million Euros to international research projects that look to find solutions to the various energy supply related challenges the current global population faces. In 2010, the research topic chosen was “Heat Storage for Concentrating Solar Power.” There were five winning projects under this banner topic. One project, for example, was “Development of the CellFlux Storage System for Sensible Heat.”
10) Renewable Power Capacity. E. On looks toward North America as one of its biggest growth businesses in the renewable power sector. For example, recently E. On installed and tested the first turbine of 94 at the Settlers Trail wind farm in Illinois. It is the fourteenth wind farm E. On has built in the United States and offers 150 megawatts of electricity to supply over 45,000 homes with electricity from clean sources. E. On is also expanding its solar and wind capacity throughout Europe where two of the company’s biggest projects lay – two wind farms in London Array and Amrumbank West.
Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com
