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Transnational Project „DanuP-2-Gas”

Making renewable energies usable in the Danube area

12.11.2020 | THD-Pressestelle

Transnational project “DanuP-2-Gas” contributes to the Green Deal

In the “DanuP-2-Gas” project, researchers at the Technology Centre Energy (TZE) in Ruhstorf are developing the entire Danube area from Regensburg to the Black Sea with the aim of expanding the potential of the renewable energies available there, promoting transnational networking, producing and storing renewable natural gas, thus making Europe less dependent on gas imports from neighbouring countries. All this with the help of renewable energies.

The TZE of the University of Applied Sciences (HAW) Landshut is taking on the role of lead partner in the project, which is funded with more than 2.5 million euros. On the German side, it is being supported by the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT), which is contributing its expertise and research results. A further nine countries along the Danube are also on board. The “DanuP-2-Gas” project runs from 202 to the end of 2022 and involves 14 partners. It is led by Prof Dr Raimund Brotsack, Professor at the European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI) in Pfarrkirchen.

Building on the basis of the Danube Energy Platform from the DIT’s “Energy Barge” project, “DanuP-2-Gas” networks the players in the entire Danube region. With this basis, the biomass available along the Danube can be promoted and distributed across the ten project countries. The project is dedicated to the process of making this biomass usable, with the help of which it is possible to produce gas from renewable energy sources through charring, subsequent gasification and methanation, which can then be fed into the existing distribution network. In this way, the electricity network is connected to the gas network and the resulting gas from renewable energy sources can be transported via these networks to areas where there is demand. This connection of the two networks or sectors is, along with the production and storage of the renewable gas, the core of the project and contributes significantly to making the energy supply in the Danube region more sustainable and thus actively promoting the energy turnaround. In “DanuP-2-Gas”, the project partners are now conducting a feasibility study in which biomass resources as well as infrastructural, legal and economic framework conditions are evaluated. DIT is preparing this information as an interactive geo-information platform with a Transnational Renewable Energy Atlas, so that future investors can use it to develop follow-up projects for actual technical implementation. Through the project, the Danube region has the potential to become a think tank for the energy turnaround and an ecosystem of further green innovation, emphasises Tobias Gotthardt, Chairman of the European Committee of Bavaria.

Cooperation DIT with HAW Landshut

In the field of energy storage technologies, especially in the area of long-term storage of renewable energies, DIT works closely with HAW Landshut. Prof Dr Raimund Brotsack (ECRI) has been partially seconded to HAW Landshut for an initial period of 4 years, half of his working time. In the “Power to Gas” working group there, a laboratory and technical centre for research and development work has been established, in which currently 3 research assistants and several students are researching and developing their final theses (doctorates, master’s, bachelor’s).

Bild (Dominik Wenzke): DanuP-2-Gas team of the Energy Technology Centre: Robert Hahn, Prof Dr Raimund Brotsack, Astrid Heindel, Dr Reinhard Schwaiberger (from left to right); further team member: Dr Tim Bieringer.