Creating a mountain farm microgrid

With the help of energy management and storage company DHYBRID, an ambitious Austrian mountain farmer is generating 10 times more electricity than he needs — and he has plans to expand.

Using photovoltaics (PV), energy storage and an energy management system, Franz Dorner is gradually turning his entire farm in Carinthia into a fully renewable operation. His is the first and only EMAS (EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme)-certified farm in all of Austria.

The peak power capacity of the PV system, which is connected to the farm’s own microgrid, is 1608 kilowatts. Whenever possible, Dorner uses the electricity directly on his farm. He commissioned DHYBRID to design and install a battery storage system to provide a capacity of 525 kWh. DHYBRID’s Universal Power Platform (UPP) ensures that the solar power is only fed into the public grid when the batteries have enough power for the night. Thanks to the energy management system, the farm is now completely independent from the public power grid.

DHYBRID's energy management system controls the entire plant. Image credit: DHYBRID

Planning for locally generated power for vehicles and machines

Dorner’s energy transition project is far from complete. He recently won approval for a wind farm, following 12 years of litigation and struggle, and he plans to expand his solar installation and the battery storage system. Dorner has recently built a hall for this purpose and intends to use the electricity to power electric vehicles, produce green hydrogen and increase grid feed-in.

In the future, all his vehicles and machines are to run on locally generated electricity or hydrogen. As his grid connection is frequently interrupted for days at a time, Dorner also plans to install a back-up power supply.

DHYBRID energy management and battery storage. Image credit: DHYBRID

More energy management required

All systems are interconnected by DHYBRID’s energy management. In addition to facilitating uninterruptible back-up power, the DHYBRID platform concept is compatible with all types of technology, allowing components to be added or even modified over time.

The local SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system empowers Dorner to monitor his system’s operating data in real time. The system also sends data to an online monitoring portal, directly informing DHYBRID’s service team in case of a disruption or other issue.

The farm’s microgrid is one of Austria’s largest projects in collaboration with UPP. DHYBRID believes many farms could benefit similarly from the microgrid concept. “Such projects pay off, not only financially but also by reducing the amount of power needed from the grid to almost zero,” said Benedikt Böhm, CEO of DHYBRID.

“They’re also an important step towards a climate-neutral energy supply in the agricultural sector, setting an example for others.”

Top image caption: The peak output of the ground-mounted and rooftop photovoltaic systems is 1608 kilowatts. Image credit: DHYBRID