— Power Gridz

Over 60 percent of Denmark's electricity comes from solar panels and wind turbines. But what powers our cities when the wind isn’t blowing?

To meet our growing electricity consumption, we need to rethink our production landscape and take a closer look at how we design our energy infrastructure.

Today, the surplus production of renewable energy can’t be stored. However, a new initiative has the potential to change that. Battery parks can store energy, so if there is an overproduction of wind or solar energy, the batteries are charged and can supply energy back to the grid during periods when green energy is no longer being produced. This effort aims to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Denmark sends excess electricity from wind turbines to Germany when it is very windy and imports electricity from Norwegian hydropower when the wind dies down.

Our demand for a constant energy supply forces the grid to deliver electricity around the clock — even when it comes from non-renewable sources. However, new energy storage initiatives could push development in a much more flexible direction.

By placing battery parks close to essential infrastructure, we can avoid energy loss during transportation to consumers. The first prototype will be located at a main infrastructure transformer station near Dianalund.

Battery parks are often foreign structures that do not fit into their local contexts. PowerGridz is a proposal that seeks to challenge the status quo and improve our production landscape by integrating battery parks into both culture and nature. Specifically, the batteries are adapted to their local areas by incorporating vernacular elements such as gabled roofs and green roofs, while also establishing a landscape strategy aimed at simultaneously regenerating biodiversity on former agricultural lands.

The containers housing the batteries are placed on ground screws, ensuring the land can be left without traces if the project relocates or the batteries need upgrading.

The overall inspiration comes from historical food caches, whose quiet modesty has been utilized worldwide since the establishment of organized agriculture. Now, we are moving toward a new reality where food caches become energy caches and by rethinking our production landscape, both the green transition and nature could benefit from this transformation.