2011 Annual Report - OTCIQ.com

Technology and Innovation
In 2011, we reconfigured the organizational setup for our
Technology and Innovation (“T&I”) activities. A new department
at Group Management steers our portfolio of activities, monitors
potentially disruptive technologies, and evaluates ideas
for new business models. One of its key tasks is to develop
and manage new businesses until they are handed over to
existing business units or newly created business units. Thirteen
E.ON Innovation Centers, which are embedded in our businesses
and steered by the T&I department at Group Management,
coordinate activities in their respective technology area
across our entire company:
• Renewables, Hydro
• Combined-Cycle Gas Turbines (“CCGT”), Carbon Capture
and Storage (“CCS”), Nuclear, Steam
• Energy Storage, Distribution, Gas
• Retail, E-Mobility, Smart Homes
• Energy Systems
Two of these technology areas, Energy Storage and Smart
Homes, were added in 2011. Both were identified as having
significant potential for changes to the competitive landscape,
business-model innovation, and disruptive technologies.
Project Examples from 2011
Energy Storage
We pooled our international expertise for all energy storage
technologies. In Falkenhagen, Germany, we set up our first
power-to-gas pilot project. This procedure uses electrolysis to
transform water into hydrogen, which can be stored in the
natural gas pipeline system.
Smart Homes
In collaboration with technology partners, E.ON established
seven customer test beds in Sweden, the United Kingdom,
and Germany with the aim of entering the smart-home market
in early 2013. In 2012, several hundred E.ON customers across
Europe will test the mass-market potential of smart-home
products and services developed jointly by E.ON companies
and partners such as Deutsche Telekom, Telefunken, GreenwaveReality,
and VS Safety.
CEO Letter
E.ON Stock
Combined Group Management Report
Consolidated Financial Statements
Corporate Governance Report
Supervisory Board and Board of Management
Tables and Explanations
Retail
A field test of residential fuel-cell micro CHP achieved 90 percent
availability under realistic daily operating conditions
and achieved the reduction in carbon emissions predicted by
the equipment manufacturer. The EU helps fund the development
of this technology. The project involves the installation
of 100 units in the United Kingdom and Germany using equipment
manufactured by CFCL and Ideal Boilers.
Renewables
Together with partners, we tested methods to reduce underwater
noise during the construction of offshore wind farms.
In Sicily, we set up arrays of high-concentration photovoltaic
(“HCPV”) modules to gain firsthand experience with the installation
and performance of different HCPV concepts. Pelamis,
our wave-power demonstration project in the Orkney Islands,
reached 1,000 hours of operation in 2011 and is expected to
reach 5,000 hours in 2012.
E-Mobility
We launched a range of comprehensive, custom-tailored
e-mobility solutions for business, municipal, and residential
costumers. To give inter-city e-mobility users easy access to
charging stations, we set up Germany’s first public direct-current
fast-charge station. We are convinced that this state-ofthe-art
station is a real alternative to at-home charging using
alternating current.
Our long-term goal is to use electric vehicles (“EVs”) as a distributed
energy storage system. Just as we have developed
smart grids that can accept more renewable-source electricity,
we see exciting and sustainable possibilities for EVs. On
breezy nights, EV batteries could store surplus wind power;
during peakload periods of the day, they could feed some
of this power back into the grid. We are working to put this into
action in field trials, such as the one we conducted with VW
with support from Germany’s Ministry of the Environment.
Our experience from numerous EV field trials across Europe has
given us a solid understanding of the technology, products, and
customer services we need to make this a reality in the future.
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