Renewables Power a Rural German Village

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/renewables-power-rural-german-village-1392995914

By 2009 Feldheim was producing all its own energy with renewable sources. Residents then wanted to take things a step further and free themselves from the large utility company, E.on, which was supplying the grid.

E.on refused to either sell or lease the part of its energy grid that ran through Feldheim. So the people took the matter into their own hands, and decided to build their own. Each of the 150 residents contributed 3,000 Euros (~$4,000 at today’s exchange rates) so that they could build their own smart grid. With help from Energiequelle, and financing from the European Union and government subsidies, the smart grid was completed in 2010, making Feldheim then the only town in Germany with its own mini-grid. This allows the locally produced heat and electricity to be fed straight to consumers and gives them control over their electrical prices, which are set at community meetings.

They now pay 31 percent less for electricity and 10 percent less for heating than before. The town consumes less than one percent of the electricity produced annually by its wind turbines and solar panels, selling the rest back to the market. This lowers their electricity bills to around half the national average. The biogas plant not only sells electricity back to the market, but also supplies the entire community with heating, saving over 160,000 liters of heating oil each year. As an added benefit, the plant produces over three million gallons of high-quality fertilizer annually that the agricultural cooperative uses.

Feldheim has also installed a plug-and-pay EV charging station in the town center, and next plans to install a 10-MW battery later this year. The storage will help balance the community microgrid’s generation and load.

[glowing]

1. Well, there's an example of socialism and capitalism working for the people.

They developed their own competition for cheaper rates and did it as a collective from the town pooling their resources.

When towns try to do this in America, they get shut down by the courts and legislation against anything like this.. Just look at what happens when rural communities have installed their own wifi, for free usage, supported by tax monies when that community in NC did this. The big cable co's came along and made it illegal; while also having no intention of running cable lines into the community.

[kristopher]

2. +1

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. Yeah sure, but we're free!

& R

[glowing]

3. maybe this was posted too early, but KICK