The aim of the newly founded ODCA is the global development of a direct current ecosystem and the cross-application establishment of direct current technology. The ZVEI was able to recruit 33 companies from industry, academia and research for the founding of the project. The ODCA, a ZVEI working group, follows on seamlessly from the DC-INDUSTRIE2 research project, which will be completed next year.

"The founding of the ODCA is the starting point for getting closer to a resource-conserving and CO2-neutral world," says Gunther Koschnick, ZVEI Head of Industry. "With the ODCA, we want to spread the knowledge and solutions of DC technology internationally." Direct current offers several advantages for a modern, industrial power grid: the efficient integration of renewable energies, lower resource consumption, reduced feed-in power, stable grids and an open system for users.

The electrical and digital industry is in a key position to achieve climate policy goals and direct current can make an important contribution to this. In existing systems, energy savings of up to 10 % and copper savings of around 50 % could be achieved in the cables. However, coupling the particularly climate-relevant sectors of buildings and mobility also enables high efficiency gains.

The founding members of the ODCA include: Audi, Bender, BLOCK, Danfoss, Eaton Industries, ESR Pollmeier, E-T-A, ETO Magnetic, Fraunhofer IISB, Fraunhofer IPA, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Harting, Innelekt, Jean Müller, KEB, Keba, Kuka, Lapp, Lenze, Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen, Murrelektronik, Paul Vahle, Phoenix Contact, Rittal, Schaltbau, Schneider Electric, Siemens, SOCOMEC, TH Ostwestfalen-Lippe, TU Braunschweig, TU Ilmenau, Weidmüller, Wöhner.

Dr. Hartwig Stammberger, Eaton Industries, was elected Chairman and Dr. Jan Stefan Michels, Weidmüller, was elected Deputy Chairman.