Christoph Bader

In view of rising demand, energy is becoming a significant production and cost factor in industry and the economy. In addition to the consequences of climate change, the energy markets are tense and volatile due to inflation, war and higher borrowing costs. As a result of society’s desire to phase out the use of fossil fuels, the focus is shifting to renewable energies as an alternative worldwide, but especially in Germany. In addition to industry, rural areas and agriculture, especially energy-intensive livestock farms, are also affected by this development and face additional economic challenges. Additional energy can be generated through the use of photovoltaic systems on the roofs of agricultural buildings or the operation of biogas plants. However, in order to be able to use the potential for renewable energy generation efficiently at all, intelligent electricity storage concepts and a globally unique energy management system (EMS) are absolutely essential in order to coordinate both inter-farm production processes and the varying energy demand in the electricity grid with the supply. As farms differ greatly both in terms of equipment and in terms of region, the question of a comprehensive market launch arises. The success or failure of this will depend to a large extent on user acceptance and application. The aim of this study is to use the webbased software tool ADOPT to forecast and predict the level of acceptance and the duration of the future market launch of the EMS innovation. Different regions in Germany (Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) were selected in order to compare possible operational and regionspecific differences. A very positive forecast result of 97%–98% after a market introduction period of around 8 years shows an optimistic trend. However, the ADOPT tool analyzes various influencing factors in parallel in a sensitivity analysis, which serve as strong signal generators for a later marketing concept. This shows that the economic efficiency and the existing equipment (electricity production, electricity consumption, storage) are the most important barriers to market introduction across regions and therefore critically reflect the overall result. However, various recommendations for action can be derived.

The increasing demand for renewable energy and the associated reduction in the use of fossil fuels is becoming a key challenge for politics, society and science worldwide, especially in Germany. This development offers the agricultural sector the opportunity to use the energy generated itself by operating photovoltaic systems on existing agricultural buildings, wind turbines or biogas plants, regardless of the production processes used, and to supply the surplus electricity directly to the public grid as a market participant. However, intelligent electricity storage concepts and a corresponding energy management system are necessary to be able to use the existing potential at all, both to optimize internal production processes and to coordinate the varying energy demand and supply in the electricity grid. Agriculture could become an energy service provider in rural areas. The “Stable 4.0” research initiative of the Technical University of Munich and Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences has been working on the practice-oriented development of system-specific principles for the implementation of an on-farm energy management system (EMS) since 2013. Agricultural operations differ greatly from region to region, but also within their production processes, and can be expected to have varying requirements and usage profiles for the system. It is therefore of interest to what extent the industrial prototype can be used and further developed within the agricultural sector. The dissemination and use of new innovations on the market is largely determined by the users. Based on a project study with 1.057 completed online responses, the current interest of practitioners in a customized EMS can be derived. It shows that economic aspects, but also efficient self-consumption of electricity and the self-sufficiency rate are particularly important to farmers. The study also looks at the use of information channels for innovations in the field of energy and is intended to serve as the basis for a marketing concept. The influence of various production processes was also examined in the survey. Initial findings already indicate multiple potential benefits for the use of the EMS and a clear added value for the entire agricultural sector.