18. Nov. 2022. A small village in Germany’s county Bavaria is known as a pioneer in supplying the village and environment with Renewable Energies. “We are in the year 2022 a. D. All of Germany is paralyzed by the energy crisis.” (Magazine “Bertl”, 03-22, p. 14 and 15, by Silva Katinka Feltes). But a village with different sub-communities is not paralyzed – it has already managed the so called “energy transition” and is not only energy independent - it also sells its own energy to other communities. A total of around 60 to 65 million kilowatt hours of electricity are generated in the village (Fuchstal) from renewable energies, the community only needs 25 to 30 million kilowatt hours. Investors have already made substantial profits.
Mayor Erwin Karg and Deputy Mayor Gerhard Schmid with great perseverance and for the good of the community have been expanding renewable energy sources since 2008: Energy sources are Wind turbines - even with anti-collision systems to protect birds and bats. The school is heated with waste heat from the nearby biogas plant. Photovoltaic and hydroelectric power are also used.
Battery storage “Heatpot”: (See also newspaper “Der Kreisbote”, 21 September 2022, article “Heat pot at the start. Regional added value - 5.9 million project completed”, by Johannes Jais). The heat pot is a battery storage device with a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters - 25,000 bath tubs - and is supplied with excess energy from wind turbines. Depending on the cold, the heat pot (130 customers) can supply heat for a month to these customers including the school and the planned retirement home. In this way, excess electricity that does not fetch a price on the exchange is used sensibly. And the self-generated energy is much cheaper than purchased energy.
Addition of S. v. Werz: The municipality of Fuchstal has again won a very important award - after the German Sustainability Award in 2021, they have now received the German Solar Prize 2022 (Der Kreisbote, 16 November 2022, J.J., p. 8).
