Staying Competitive

Electricity and gas prices have been rising for years and logistics companies have also been subject to big jumps in prices and consequently uncertainties when budgeting their energy costs ever since the Russo-Ukrainian War at the latest. The focus is shifting more heavily to self-generated, renewable energies, and not just for these companies. Above all, sustainable logistics has to be cost-effective since the market is extremely competitive.

What technologies will be expedient in the future? Will sustainable energy generation solutions remain cost-effective when gas prices drop again? And how will the availability of volatile energy sources, such as sun and wind be ensured? Before making investments, e.g., in facility expansion or remodeling, it is first worth looking into the future based on valid model calculations.

The MOSOLF Group, headquartered in Kirchheim unter Teck, Baden-Württemberg, runs forty-one logistics facilities in Europe. The family business specializes in logistics for the international automotive industry, fleet operators and automotive dealerships. Apart from delivering new vehicles, it also transports leasing returns, for instance. They are brought to Mosolf facilities equipped for this and reconditioned. They are cleaned in wash facilities and signs of use are touched up in paint shops. One such facility is located in Ketzin, Brandenburg.

“We have to be able to keep running our facility in Ketzin cost-effectively. The question quickly arose of how we can cut our energy costs long-term and make them budgetable for the future too,” says Dr. Gregor Tjaden, Head of Renewable Energies at Mosolf Erneuerbare Energien GmbH.

In addition to a large car storage lot, the Ketzin facility also has a wash facility, a paint shop and an office building. “We want to make the facility independent of the fluctuating electricity and gas prices and generate our electricity ourselves. To do this, we need hard data on which types of energy generation will stay most cost effective when the capital and operating expenditures are analyzed,” says Tjade, continuing.

This is where Fraunhofer IFF’s research scientists come into play. They have years of expertise in how companies can organize their energy management so that their energy supply can be optimized for the factors of cost-effectiveness, sustainability, technological innovation and market constraints. The research scientists prepared a feasibility study of the Ketzin facility for Mosolf. It includes a complete business plan with a survey of all available technologies, their usability at the facility, cost-effectiveness calculations and medium- and long-term actions.

“We reviewed and assessed all types of energy generation feasible at the facility, from conventional but “green” powered technologies, such as gas-powered cogeneration plants and gas turbines, to renewable energies, such as wind power and photovoltaics, through innovations, such as hydrogen electrolysis. Then we combined this with other parameters, such as lifetime, operating and maintenance expenditures and the price trend for necessary resources, such as renewable gas,” says Dr. Stephan Balischewski, feasibility study project manager at Fraunhofer IFF, describing the approach. Thirteen technologies from a portfolio of over 120 were ultimately deemed relevant for the facility and examined more closely.

Then assessment criteria were defined based on energy, economic and environmental constraints and technology summaries were prepared.

What makes this special is that, in addition to a static forecast with hard figures about the respective lifetimes, the research scientists also prepared a dynamic forecast in which the most important parameters are analyzed variably. It includes a twenty percent upward and downward/plus and minus spread for the parameters of capital expenditures and lifetime.

Energy market prospects and policy constraints were also analyzed. The study additionally included a list of short- and long-term actions based on the analyses and calculations performed.

Ultimately, costs per megawatt-hour of energy were presented for each of the different technologies as static and dynamic calculations. A solar thermal energy solution with evacuated tube collectors proved a cost-effective alternative for supplying heat. Large wind turbines supply renewable energy just as competitively as the conventional technologies of gas-powered cogeneration plants and steam turbines. “We were able to demonstrate that an energy supply based on renewable energies is wholly competitive in the long term,” says Dr. Stephan Balischewski about the study’s findings. “If Mosolf opts for this solution, then the company will make itself independent of market prices for electricity and gas and simultaneously do something for climate change mitigations,” explains the research scientist.

The actual electricity consumption at the facilities is still manageable. “This will increase significantly, though, with the anticipated electrification of our car carrier fleet and the customer vehicles,” says Dr. Gregor Tjaden, adding, “The study’s findings will help us take the right actions even under changing conditions. This will enable us to run the facility cost-effectively and environmentally soundly and strengthen our competitive edge.”