E.ON’s CEO, Wulf Bernotat, presented the funding for the 10 projects under the E.ON Research Award program. The projects involve different methods of energy storage, ranging from highly efficient batteries and new heat storage devices for point-of-use cogeneration systems through the use of electric vehicles as mobile storage units, to compressed-air storage systems on the seabed.
Energy storage is reportedly an important part of E.ON’s research initiative, under which the company is making E60 million available over the next 10 years for research projects with different priorities.
The funding does not require contract research to be carried out for E.ON. The research findings remain the researchers’ property and are expected to made public.
Mr Bernotat said: Energy storage is key to the further development of renewables. E.ON intends to double their share to almost a quarter of the energy mix by 2030. Up to 2010 alone, we will invest at least E6 billion in this area. However, to make better use of renewables, we must also tackle the problem that they are not yet able to meet baseload demand. For this we need innovative storage technologies.
