E-DeMa Kick off

On 10 November 2008, RWE Energy, Siemens AG, ef.Ruhr (affiliation of university chairs from the universities of Duisburg/Essen, Bochum and Dortmund), Miele, SWK (Stadtwerke Krefeld-Gruppe) and ProSyst began the practical implementation of their joint project on the "Development and demonstration of locally networked energy systems to the E-Energy marketplace of the future", in short "E-DeMa", as a syndicate of companies. The syndicate won an award within the scope of an „E-Energy" competition of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology in March 2008.

The project concentrates on the development and implementation of integrated plans, to develop and exploit the optimisation potential of information and communication technologies (IKT) in local electricity markets. "The further development of the networks and system management by sophisticated communication technologies in the sense of a smart grid is a great opportunity for us. Through this project we can demonstrate that together with our partners from the energy sector and research, we have seized the chance, developed innovative ideas and are now able to put them into practice", says Ralf Christian, CEO of Division Power Distribution in the Siemens-Sector Energy. "Through its participation in E-Energy, RWE assumes a pioneering role and drafts a blueprint for a new future of energy supplies together with its syndicate partners. This includes concrete, innovative measures to improve the system management and plans for new services and customer offers for household and commercial customers", according to Dr. Joachim Schneider, Executive Vice President of RWE Energy.

The aim of the project is to create a marketplace for industrial and private electricity customers. In the course of the project these electricity customers will be connected to a public electronic marketplace via communication technologies and thus linked to energy dealers, distribution grid operators and other protagonists within the model regions. This will lead to new offers and services through a more active participation in the market by private and industrial electricity customers as well as expanded business models for electricity supply companies. The modern and safe management of the distribution grids, in-house applications and the acquisition and provision of consumption data will be taken into account in the project. The intention here is to combine energy management as well as information and communication technology to an "energy information turntable". The pilot projects will be realised in the distribution grid areas of RWE Rhein-Ruhr AG and SWK Energie.

The sponsorship scheme "E-Energy" of the Federal Government develops and tests new approaches to optimizing electricity distribution through the use of modern information and communication technologies (IKT) in six model regions. In the program initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), corresponding R&D activities are funded by a total of around 60 million euros in a cross-divisional partnership with the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety (BMU). To this end, a total amount of around € 140 mn. has been mobilised. E-Energy aims to develop the optimisation potential of the IKT so as to achieve more cost effectiveness, security of supplies as well as climate and environmental compatibility in electricity distribution. E-Energy thus ensures substantial growth and employment potentials in Germany and lastingly reduces the dependence on energy imports.

RWE Energy is the sales and network company in the RWE group for continental Europe. RWE Energy offers one-stop electricity, gas, water and the associated services in a total of twelve regions, six of which are outside Germany. Customers include private households, industrial undertakings, business and industrial customers as well as municipalities, municipal utilities and regional utilities. The national electricity and gas transmission as well as gas storage will be managed by independent companies, as will the sales business with large industrial customers. Together with the subsidiaries and affiliates, 15.5 mn. customers are supplied with electricity, 7.6 mn. customers with gas and 13 mn. inhabitants with drinking water. External sales in 20007 amounted to 168.3 bn. kWh of electricity and 258.0 bn. kWh of gas. In 2007, RWE Energy made division net sales of 28.2 bn. euros with a workforce of 28,323 people and is thus a leading supplier company in Europe.

The Siemens-Sector Energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of the complete range of products, services and solutions for energy generation, transmission and distribution as well as the for production, conversion and transport of oil and gas. In the fiscal year 2007 (30 September), the Energy Sector made net sales of around 20.3 bn. euros and received orders for around 28.5 bn. euros. The net profit was 1.8 bn. euros. There were around 73,500 employees in the Energy Sector at the beginning of the 2008 fiscal year. Further information at: www.siemens.de/energy.

Press contact: Siemens AG
Media Relations Energy Sector
Dietrich Biester
T: +49 (0)9131-7-33559
F: +49 (0)9131-7-33615
M: +49 (0)171-55 074 52 M: +49 (0)172-202 89 79
E: dietrich.biester@siemens.com

RWE Energy AG
Head of Ext. Communication/Press Officer
Sebastian Ackermann
T: +49 (0)231-438-3022
F: +49 (0)231-438-3527
E: sebastian.ackermann@rwe.com