NGlobal Magazin 01-2010

Niedersachsen Global www.nglobal.de Energy 37 The corn plants’ shadows seem to grow, increasingly, longer. A number of quite critical voices do not speak out in favour of the ever expanding cultivation of corn. Not only do corn monocultures endanger soil fertility, single crop farm land is also prone to erosion. And it, obviously, does not contribute to biodiversity. In addition, monocultures are frequently not accept- ed by the local population who don’t want to live in desolate cornscapes. Gradually farmers are starting to think again — also because of the Western corn rootworm whose favourite food is corn. The offspring of the pest is being brought into the country by air- planes, and specialists have, therefore, come to speak of it as the “jetset beetle”. The jet-setters are indeed fond of the corn plants’ scrumptious roots, a gourmet tendency that can destroy entire fields. Sweet Shooting Star The energy crop with much potential to restrict the omnipresence of corn is the sugar beet plant. KWS lovingly call it the shooting star —although research on the plant has actually been going on for some time. So far its use has been limited to the produc- tion of ethanol fuel. Yet comprehensive studies have revealed that sugar beet is particularly well suited for the production of biogas, since she forms much mass. “What is more, efficiency of the sugar beet crop is high. 90 percent of the carbon produced through photosynthesis turns into biogas,” explains Dr. An- dreas von Felde, head of the department for energy crops at KWS. In Germany every other sugar beet is produced through KWS seeds – for a reason, since the com- pany has been improving crop yield. “Just over the last three years we have had incredible yield increas- es of up to 15 tons per hectare,” adds head of KWS Philip von dem Bussche proudly. Lately the firm also solved the problem posed by the beet’s tendency to attract soil. Before sugar beets can be fermented they need to be cleaned. The recently developed mobile beet washing machine cleans the crops and removes stones at the unbelievable rate of 60 tons per hour, an enormous speed which is symbolic for the drive with which Niedersachsen’s farmers are promoting the growth of the energy business. Like last year the federal state of Niedersachsen will realize the joint presentation “Energy from Nieder- sachsen” at Hannover Messe 2010. 26 innovation leaders from the areas of fuel cell & battery technolo- gy, wind power, solar energy, bioenergy, and geother- mal energy will present their technological capability on over 450 square metres. The Hannover Messe is the most important meeting point for the energy sector. In 2009 the three lead- ing international energy fairs at the Hannover Messe, attracting more than 1,000 exhibitors and over 100,000 visitors, showed last year’s mega-trends in halls 11-13 and 27. Hannover Messe 19 - 23 April 2010, hall 27, booth F23 www.nglobal.de, www.hannovermesse.de Photo: Deutsche Messe Our Energy Companies Solar Technology alfasolar GmbH INNOFERM GmbH Energiesysteme Jade Hochschule Oldenburg Oldenburger Energiecluster e.V. Bioenergy Akademie für Erneuerbare Energien Corntec GmbH REW GmbH Tacke 3N Fuel Cell / Battery Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG EWE NextEnergy Fraunhofer ICT Hy-LokD Vertriebs GmbH I+ME ACTIA GmbH LI Nds. Brennstoffzelle/Eatt. Wind Energy BARD Engineering GmbH ForWind PSW-Energiesysteme GmbH TimberTower GmbH 3G GearCheck Geothermal Energy & Energy Management Baker Hughes INTEQ GmbH Geozentrum Hannover Energie-Forschung- szentrum Niedersach- sen (EFZN) FEN INGA mbH QNE GmbH & Co. KG Meeting   the Power   State   Joint presentation at   Hannover Messe 2010