Creating the basis for a German electricity mix data set

Project goal

The working group energy, consisting of members of several universities and research institutes, developed in the project "Strommix Deutschland" the basics for a harmonised, updatable data set of the German electricity mix.   

Project description

Energy processes play a central role in life cycle assessment, because for the production of almost every product energy is needed. Since the effects caused by various energy sources are very different, the electricity mix composition is important for the overall environmental performance. In addition, different ways to model electricity production and distribution influence the results.

In order to create a basis for a standardized data set, a basic data set and a concept for harmonisation and up-dating were developed, in due consideration their use in scenario calculations. Methodical questions were clarified and interfaces within the network were defined. Finally an internal review of the results was conducted.

Results

The investigation shows that there is need to improve both data quality and data availability, in particular regarding supply chains. Further, it makes sense to enlarge the accounting of grids to EU level due to increasing liberalization and decentralization. The consideration of electricity imports and exports should be methodically consistent, what is not the case so far.
The study can provide a basis for other country electricity mixes, especially for IEA-countries and important energy exporting countries as Indonesia or Columbia.

Time period

2005-2007

Commissioner/Cooperation partner

Cooperation partners of the working group 'energy' were the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), the Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft e.V., the Universiy Stuttgart, the Lehrstuhl für Bauphysik, ifeu Heidelberg, GreenDeltaTC, Institut für Energiewirtschaft und Rationelle Energieanwendung (IER), Institut für Hochspannungstechnik (IFHT), RWTH Aachen, Lehrstuhl für Energiesysteme und Energiewirtschaft, the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and the Statistische Bundesamt. DLR and the Ruhr-Universität Bochum took a coordination role.

Resources

Project website: http://www.netzwerk-lebenszyklusdaten.de/cms/content/site/lca/Home/Aktivitaeten/AKEnergie

Published report: VDI-Gesellschaft Energietechnik (publisher) 2007: Erstellung der Grundlagen für einen harmonisierten und fortschreibbaren Datensatz des deutschen Strommixes, Düsseldorf, ISBN 3-931384-61-6.