On the 5th of November 2021, CSSC Lab held a workshop at the solar.one competence centre in Stegersbach, Austria. Interested parties from the surrounding communities were invited to attend the three-hour session in order to find out more about the innovative approaches being tested at the centre.

During the workshop, participants were given a tour of the newly-opened centre, witnessing the use of a number of sector coupling and city storage technologies first hand. To be specific, they were shown the thermal and the electrical storage facilities as well as the heat supply and the e-charging infrastructure for e-vehicles.

At the end of the tour, participants stopped at an interactive wall, depicting the relationship between the different energy sources in the energy system of Stegersbach. The importance of combining different sources and the role of renewables in the town was explained in a highly visual way, making it easy to grasp for both energy experts and non-energy experts.

After that, participants were invited to attend a presentation on the technological and the economic aspects of storage, load shifting and sector coupling. This was followed by a Q&A session during which, participants discussed the barriers they currently face related to the purchasing of similar equipment. At this point of the discussion, it was revealed that high costs continue to be the greatest hurdle participants encounter.

The centre is open to the general public and tours are also offered for those interested in learning more. For more details, check solar.one website.