EnergyDecentral Innovation Award: 2024 winners__

EnergyDecentral 2024: from 12 to 15 November in Hanover, Germany – Around 270 registered exhibitors – Parallel with EuroTier 2024 – DLG Innovations Committee will be awarding two gold medals and one silver medal

DLG (German Agricultural Society) has announced the winners of the EnergyDecentral 2024 Innovation Award. The EnergyDecentral Innovation Award will be presented for pioneering, innovative developments in the sustainable energy industry. The winners of the renowned innovation medals are representative of the creative will and innovativeness of the entire industry. All companies exhibiting at EnergyDecentral and EuroTier can take part in the DLG Innovation Award with their innovations. This year, 25 innovations have been submitted, 12 of which have been approved for the list of all trade fair innovations. From these, the DLG Innovations Committee has awarded two gold medals and one silver medal.

A product with a new concept whose function has changed significantly and whose use enables a new procedure or improves an existing procedure considerably is presented with an EnergyDecentral Innovation Award in gold. The following criteria are key for the award of a gold medal:

• Importance to farming
• Advantages for operations and work management
• Improvement of the environmental and energy supply
• Effects on workload reduction and work safety

An EnergyDecentral Innovation Award in silver is presented to an innovation in which a familiar product has been further developed such that a significant improvement in its function and the process is to be anticipated. However, the product does not meet the criteria for the presentation of an EnergyDecentral Innovation Award in gold in full.

The following are key for the award of a silver medal:

• Economic importance to farming
• Advantages in work performance and work quality
• Improvement of functional safety
• Impacts on the environment and the energy situation

 Products whose degree of innovativeness is assessed as adequate by the committee and which are therefore evaluated as innovations, but which are not awarded a gold or silver medal, are portrayed in the innovations magazine, published by the DLG and issued at the trade fair in Hanover.

Award-winning products must be fully functional at the time of the exhibition and must be available on the market by the time of the next trad fair, EnergyDecentral 2026, at the latest. The exhibitor entering the award is obliged to disclose information concerning market availability. This is carried out in two steps:

One year after the award, the exhibitor must provide information concerning the market availability of the award-winning innovation.

The exhibitor's second statement regarding whether the award-winning product is available on the market follows shortly prior to the next EnergyDecentral.

 Gold medals:

Product: PlanET AI camera system
Manufacturer: PlanET Biogastechnik GmbH
Hall/stand: Hall: 25, stand: G14

To date, biogas plant agitators are adjusted manually and via a sight glass depending on a visual inspection carried out by the operator. This manual adjustment of agitation times, rotational speeds or agitator positions is extensively dependent on the operator's feel and experience, and runs the risk of major disturbances, particularly if these arise shortly after a visual inspection.

Initial concepts for automated monitoring and control of the agitation process have already been in existence for some time. The AI camera system from PlanET Biogastechnik continuously monitors the agitation quality, foam formation and floating layer formation for the first time, assesses the conditions in the tank by means of AI-aided image evaluation and implements corresponding control measures based on the available data without the operator having to intervene. This equates to a quantum leap for the agitation process, particularly as this improved agitator control will also enable the energy used for the agitation process to be optimised in the future. The system is supported by an automatic wiping, cleaning and lighting system which enables a clear view under all circumstances. 

As well as being technically highly innovative due to its AI approach, the AI camera system from PlanET Biogastechnik marks the presentation of a system for automatic, needs-based agitation in biogas plants for the very first time.

Short text:

The AI camera system from PlanET Biogastechnik equates to a quantum leap in controlling the agitation process in biogas plants, because it enables automatic monitoring and data-based control for the first time.

Product: Telehandler KT316 with integrated dynamic weighing system
Manufacturer: Kramer-Werke GmbH
In cooperation with: Bosch Rexroth AG
Hall/stand: Hall: 27, stand: C15

While weighing systems for loaders are widespread, they have so far proved to have crucial disadvantages, because they do not operate dynamically. This means that the load centre of gravity of the respective implement has to be taken into consideration and calibrated. Successful weighing also entails stopping on a flat surface and running through a defined lifting range. Added to this is the fact that only retrofit solutions have so far been available for telehandlers.

In this respect, the telehandler KT316 with integrated dynamic weighing system from Kramer is a fundamental new development that integrates a dynamic weighing system into a telescopic loading system for the first time. This is particularly helpful and of high practical relevance for biogas plants, as the effort required to document the substrates that are used in compliance with the law is particularly high. Shovel weighing can be carried out much more easily in the future, whereby the reduced loss of time thanks to the weighing process, even during operation, and the accuracy of the system were particularly praised by the jury.

The innovative character of the dynamic weighing system consists of the fact that it operates independently of the implement, the load centre of gravity or the position of the loading system including the telescoping function. 

Short text:

The integrated dynamic weighing system for telehandlers from Kramer extensively simplifies shovel weighing and improves its accuracy, whereby the possibility of carrying out the weighing process even during operation leads to only a slight loss of time.

Silver medal:

Product: agriportance software
Manufacturer: agriportance GmbH
Hall/stand: Hall: 25, stand: K27

So far, the data for preparing a greenhouse gas (GHG) or mass balance at companies subject to mandatory reporting has been recorded manually in tables and transferred by post or e-mail to a service provider, which then calculates the balance. Customers are rarely able to access and adjust their data directly or to establish a progression.

The agriportance software remedies this by significantly simplifying recording and calculation when balancing greenhouse gases or masses. In particular, data in various formats can be automatically imported and the corresponding balances prepared quickly and easily with the aid of advanced algorithms. The best possible value is always found by comparing standard and individual values and can be used for an optimum result. Changed statutory regulations or calculation bases are continuously integrated by the app manufacturer, with the result that the app is constantly up to date. Training courses for sustainability certification are also offered.

This significantly reduces the workload at companies subject to mandatory reporting and enables strategic corporate development with respect to GHG and mass balancing. 

The agriportance software therefore constitutes a significant evolution of the existing GHG and mass balancing process.

Short text:

The agriportance software simplifies the preparation of greenhouse gas and mass balances and offers the option of training users and employees, which enables the process to be extensively simplified and internal costs to be reduced as well as saving resources and cutting CO2 emissions.

Media contact

Malene Conlong
+49 69 24788-213
m.conlong@dlg.org

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DLG. Progress and sustainability in the agricultural sector and the food industry

Founded in 1885 by the German engineer Max Eyth, DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft – German Agricultural Society) stands for productivity and resource protection in a sustainable and innovative agricultural and food value chain. DLG's mission is to promote progress through the transfer of knowledge, quality standards and technology. DLG has over 31,000 members, and is non-profit, politically independent and internationally networked.

As one of the leading organisations in its sector, DLG organises trade fairs and events in the fields of agriculture and food technology and tests food, agricultural machinery and farm inputs. With its Competence Centers for Agriculture and Food and the DLG-Verlag's media, DLG stands for the independent transfer of know-how. DLG additionally develops solutions to the challenges of the agricultural, agribusiness and food sectors in numerous national and international expert committees.

www.dlg.org