HAMBURG, Germany, October 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday the German city of Hamburg officially launched its "Energy Bunker". Located in the district of Wilhelmsburg, the former air raid bunker has been transformed into an Energy Bunker as part of the 2013 International Building Exhibition Hamburg (IBA). This massive building, which had been derelict for several decades, now hosts a regenerative power plant supplying the surrounding area with green energy. The project is part of the "Renewable Wilhelmsburg" climate protection scheme, which aims to provide the 50,000 Wilhelmsburg residents with CO2-neutral electricity by 2025 and with climate-neutral heating by 2050. The surrounding neighbourhood's household energy is generated by an efficient combination of energy sources: besides solar energy and biogas, the bunker also uses wood chips and waste heat from a nearby industrial plant, supplying heating energy to local households. The project's most innovative feature is its large-scale buffer storage facility with its 2 million litre capacity that integrates different eco-friendly heat and power units. The Energy Bunker also feeds the renewable power generated by its solar panels into Hamburg's electricity grid, thereby supplying 3,000 households with heat and 1,000 households with electricity. The Energy Bunker is an integral part of the "Renewable Wilhelmsburg" climate protection scheme for Europe's largest river island with almost 50,000 residents. By the year 2050, Wilhelmsburg will be transformed into a climate-neutral district. The basis for this is provided within the framework of the International Building Exhibition (IBA), currently taking place in Hamburg. With its dedicated energy projects, the IBA is setting the groundwork for meeting Wilhelmsburg's total energy and heating requirements in a climate-neutral way by 2025 and 2050, respectively.
