Results and Announcement of the New Funding
At the 25th of August in 2016 the announcement of the new funding to continue the feasibility analysis was presented by minister Remmel. The results of the first project phase are summarized in the document "Development of a Realization Concept for the Utilization of Facilities of Coal Mining as an underground Pumped-Storage Power Plant". The report can be downloaded here.
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24.05.2018 - From May 22 to 24, 2018, the Aachen International Mining Symposium (AIMS 2018) took place in Aachen. Theme of the event was modern mining. For more information, see the following Link. |
20.12.2018 - France Soir - Ruhr: "l'après-mine", ou comment resceller les entrailles de la terre |
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05.02.2018 - On February 1, 2018, the Energy Storage & Distribution Conference took place in Woerden. The next will take place in November 2018. For more information, see the following Link. |
19.12.2018 - ABS CBN - How Germany will turn lights out a last black coal mine | |
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05.12.2017 - From 16 to 18 March 2018, the 43rd Meeting of Working Group "Bergbaufolgen" will take place in Witten (Ruhrgebiet). For more information, see the following Link. |
19.12.2018 - Energy Daily - End of an era as Germany´s last black coal mine closes | |
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28.11.2017 - Konferenz: Linking Science, Society, Business and Policy for the Sustainable Use of Abandoned Mines in the SADC Region. More Information. |
18.12.2018 - Digital Journal - How Germany will turn lights out at last black coal mine | |
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10.07.2017 - Conference: Pumps storage pants and their integration into the energy policy. Flyer. |
17.12.2018 - Der Westen - Essener Professor schlägt wegen Schließung der Zeche Prosper-Haniel Alarm: "Wir müssen jetzt handeln!" | |
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04.07.2017 - The Underfloor Pumps Storage in the Annual Report "Innovation through Research" 2016 of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy. Download. |
03.12.2018 - Duitsland Instituut - Laatste steenkolenmijn blijft achter als lege batterij | |
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28.06.2017 - On the 28th and 29th of June the 9th Brachentag Windenergie NRW takes place in Düsseldorf. More Information. |
01.12.2018 - Energie-Forschungszentrum Niedersachen - Forschungslandschaft untertägige Pumpspeicherwerke für erneuerbare Energie |
The results of the representative population survey about the Energiewende and underground pumped storage plants conducted by the Rhine Ruhr Institute for Social Research and Political Consultancy (Rhein-Ruhr-Institut für Sozialforschung und Politikberatung e.V.; RISP) has been published in October 2013. The entire report can be found here.
Recently the booklet 40 "Untertage-Pumpspeicherwerke in den Anlagen des Berg- und Tagebaus" of the series "Report Geotechnik" has been published. The content is the results of a previous study which has been sponsored by the Stiftung Mercator. Further information can be found here.
The challenge
As electricity production from solar panels and wind turbines continues to grow, energy needs to be stored temporarily for use during periods of high demand. To do this, coastal countries will build a major electricity grid in the North Sea in the coming years, through which it will be possible to drive pumps with a temporary excess of alternatively generated energy to fill elevated pumped storage reservoirs in Norway. The electricity from these pumped storage plants will then be used to meet peaks in demand as and when they occur. Such pumped storage facilities are best built where there are sufficient height differences over a short horizontal distance. However, problems are often encountered here with the amount of land used for the high-lying basins and the distance to the possible electricity consumers.
The answer
Pumped storage plants located close to both the consumer and to where energy is generated from wind and photovoltaic systems are a genuine alternative. In regions such as the Rhineland or the Ruhr area, the lack of relief in the landscape does not provide the necessary height differences. This is where the former coal mines come in.The aim of this project is to find out whether and at what point such mines can be converted in a technically and economically feasible way for energy storage when mining ceases in 2018. A legal and ecological evaluation of the future perspectives of such a concept is also to be carried out. The project specifically relates to two remaining active RAG mines and associated operations: Prosper Haniel in Bottrop and Auguste Victoria in Marl. Read more...
Five powerful partners – from the region for the region.
The project partners are interdisciplinary research teams from the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) and Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), experts from RAG Deutsche Steinkohle, DMT, and the Rhine-Ruhr Institute for Social Research and Policy Consulting (RISP) at the UDE.
Die DMT GmbH & Co. KG is an international, independent engineering and consulting company with the main focus in the area of resource exploration, mining and coking.
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RAG Deutsche Steinkohle covers the activities of mining hard coal in the Ruhr area and the Saarland.
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Located in the dynamic, hospitable metropolregion Ruhrgebiet in the center of Europe, is the Ruhr-University with its 20 faculties, 5.000 employees and about 36.500 students from 130 countries.
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The Rhein-Ruhr-Institute focuses its activities and competences on the applied research.
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The University Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is one of the ten largest universities of Germany and offers a wide and international disciplinary spectrum.
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The supervising authorities are the district government Arnsberg, the project promoter ETN and the project promoter Jülich.