ENVIRONMENT
Photovoltaic systems often produce electricity when it cannot be consumed, so feeding it back is economically unattractive. The Holzwelt Murau is now starting a pilot project in which excess solar power is stored.
Too much electricity in summer, but too little in winter: This is how you can describe the yield of the photovoltaic systems in the Murau area in particular – and this is where the pilot system in the office of Holzwelt Murau comes in.
“365 days a year” for 80,000 euros
“We have developed a pilot project at our Wood World Office, where we have installed a 15 kW peak photovoltaic system. This is connected to a hydrogen energy cell that converts excess electricity into hydrogen and then converts it back into electricity via a fuel cell during the energy-poor period. So we are independent in the office 365 days a year,” says Holzwelt Managing Director Harald Kraxner.
The pilot hydrogen energy cell including the solar cells cost 80,000 euros. The office is now self-sufficient in terms of energy, so it no longer has to buy electricity, and from now on it will also be logged how efficient the system is – for example how large the losses are when hydrogen is converted back into electricity using the fuel cell in winter.
signal effect hoped for
According to Kraxner, the Holzwelt sees above all the know-how gained and the signal effect as added value, and they want to “generate additional value in the region through renewable energy”. The system is also intended to show whether hydrogen can support the energy transition in the Murau area if such systems are operated jointly and the construction costs are reduced as a result.