"Green power plant" in Berlin

The companies within the Motzener Straße business network in Berlin Tempelhof-Schöneberg have launched another initiative for sustainable energy and heat supply. On 14 June 2022, the “Green Power Plant” went online. The project was officially inaugurated by State Secretary for Economic Affairs Tino Schopf in the afternoon, joined by District Mayor Jörn Oltmann of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises is supporting the initiative as part of the Masterplan Industry programme.

With the “Green Power Plant”, fifteen companies in the Motzener Straße industrial area are now digitally linking their environmentally friendly electricity and heat generation systems and making the generated quantities transparently available to the public in real time via a dedicated website. As technology partner, deZem was responsible for the technical implementation, equipping, among other things, the photovoltaic systems with LoRaWAN power sensors (HarvyLR). The deZemBoard software module software module is used to visualise the metering data on the website.

The figures are impressive: the participating companies already generate 43 per cent of their energy needs themselves. They also publish the total annual generation figures and the corresponding CO₂ savings achieved each year. Based on annual projections, the use of renewable energies by the companies involved in this project alone results in savings of around 1,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

For the operation of the “Green Power Plant”, the companies’ energy meters are connected digitally. In total, seventeen photovoltaic systems for electricity generation and seven installations for environmentally friendly heat generation, including combined heat and power units (CHP), wood pellet boilers, heat pumps, and heat recovery systems from production processes - are networked together. The data are transmitted via LoRaWAN radio signals and then securely transferred to the deZem data platform.

With the “Green Power Plant”, the industrial area is taking a proactive approach to the production and use of sustainably generated energy in industry and commerce - offering a forward-looking and pragmatic solution model.

The companies involved are demonstrating their genuine commitment to sustainability and CO₂savings. State Secretary for Economic Affairs Tino Schopf explained: “The Green Power Plant at the Motzener Straße industrial area makes the decarbonisation of Berlin’s economy tangible and transparent while at the same time promoting public acceptance of ‘industry in the city’.”

District Mayor Jörn Oltmann added: “It is essential - especially in light of the current challenges - that companies engage with renewable energies and the sustainable supply of commercial sites. For me, the Green Power Plant has the potential to serve as a model for the sustainable development of industrial areas - not only in Berlin. I am particularly impressed by the innovative approach that enables key figures such as electricity generation and CO₂ savings to be tracked online in real time. This creates the transparency we need.”

Ulrich Misgeld, Chair of the Motzener Straße business network, highlighted the broader potential of the initiative: “The Green Power Plant is the first step towards an intelligent, smart industrial area. The digital networking of a district with real-time data will become an important locational advantage, and Motzener Straße is preparing for it. With this project, medium-sized companies are connecting not only digitally, but also in their commitment to sustainability. This allows them to position themselves as modern, forward-looking businesses. I am confident that the Green Power Plant will serve as a pilot project for industrial and commercial areas in Berlin and, after successful implementation, as a blueprint for similar projects elsewhere.”