• Innovative Master+ solution integrates data centres into the energy transition

RWE Supply & Trading has been awarded gold at the German Innovation Awards. The company impressed the judges with Master+, a holistic UPS battery system (UPS = Uninterruptible Power Supply) in the competition class "Excellence in Business to Business" in the "Energy Solutions" section.

Master+ allows data centres to participate in the energy market. The additional capacity of the UPS battery is used for grid services. The data centre thus becomes a partner in the energy transition. The data centre operator benefits from many advantages: an investment cost subsidy for the UPS battery and a significantly higher quality battery system with a generally longer back-up time. In addition, there is the possibility of predictive maintenance based on the operating data from the battery monitoring system and a multi-year warranty on the battery. The reliability of the overall system is not limited by using the UPS battery for network services. For this innovation, RWE has already received the German Data Centre in 2018 and the eco://award in 2019.

"Decentralised power storage systems have an important role to play on the road to the energy transition. With Master+, a holistic UPS battery system, the additional capacity of the UPS battery is used for network services, from which the respective operator benefits. A system as clever as it is innovative, which is so good, precisely because it simply makes sense," was the jury's verdict.

"We are very pleased to once again receive an award for Master+," says Hans-Günter Schwarz from RWE Supply & Trading. He is developing new business areas and helped to bring the product to market maturity. Schwarz continues: "Our system benefits both customers and the energy transition. For data centres, investment costs are reduced and at the same time the UPS battery helps to balance grid fluctuations."

With the German Innovation Award, the German Design Council honours trend-setting innovations that have a lasting effect and offer added value for the user. 

There were a total of 700 entries, from industry giants as well as smaller companies and start-ups. The German Design Council was founded in 1953 by the German Bundestag and is funded by the Federation of German Industries. For 66 years now, the foundation has pursued the goal of promoting the competitiveness of German companies. Members currently includes more than 320 domestic and foreign companies, employing more than three million people.