Stockerau Solar Meetup – Review April

Stockerau inspiration at a high level

The Stockerau Solar Meetup with the EMC expert meeting on Wednesday, 2 April 2025, at the Kaiserrast Stockerau was once again an outstanding event. With over 65 high-calibre participants from a wide range of fields, an intensive exchange of knowledge developed that went well beyond the planned time frame – an exchange of this quality and depth is rarely experienced in public.

Unique perspectives on the carbon cycle

A particular highlight was the talk by Univ. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Frank, who presented the carbon cycle from a geological point of view – in a holistic and fascinating way hardly heard before from climate research. Only through this comprehensive view do the complex interplay and the dramatic consequences of using fossil fuels become truly tangible. The realisation that the Earth is changing with unprecedented dynamics and speed gave the audience food for thought. The enthusiasm was so great that, even after an hour-long talk, many listeners wanted to keep discussing and listening for much longer.

Exciting insights into energy storage

Dr. Wolfgang Vitovec of EVN provided valuable insights into the results of the 2-megawatt large-scale storage facility in Prottes, in operation since 2017. Particularly revealing was his statement that all the technical solutions for bidirectional charging of electric cars as balancing-power plants have long been available. Nevertheless, there is a lack of interest on the part of both the car industry and many grid operators, since implementing it would mean economic losses for the established operators of central balancing-power facilities.

To be continued on 4 June 2025

Because of the late hour, Herbert Sporrer’s talk on decentralised home storage had to be postponed. This exciting topic will be covered at the next Solar Meetup on Wednesday, 4 June 2025, at 6 pm at the Kaiserrast.