German renewable energy company LichtBlick on Wednesday said it has teamed up with carmaker Volkswagen to bring miniature power stations for home use to the market in the spring of 2010.

A number of energy companies are experimenting with small scale power units, but so far this market has not posed any competition to large, integrated power suppliers…LichtBlick, whose name translates to “a glimmer of hope,” said this could change in the long run.

“By selling home power plants for decentralized and flexible power production, LichtBlick opens a new chapter of intelligent energy provision,” Christian Friege, chairman of the Hamburg-based company, said in a statement. “…we know how power and gas markets work and how to organize distribution. In Volkswagen, we have won an ideal partner,” he said.

LichtBlick, which currently has 490,000 green power customers, said it was aiming to sell 100,000 units called “EcoBlue” to create the equivalent of a 2,000 megawatts power station…Run with Volkswagen natural gas engines and eventually intended to be fired by biogas from non-fossil sources, the new units would produce power on demand, store heat and thus produce a constant hot water supply, it said…

But instead of just burning fuel, they would become able, via smart meters, to push power back into the electricity grid at short notice at times of load shortfalls, becoming a big alternative supplier.

The units would be marketed in Hamburg first, and later in other parts of the country at an individual installation cost of 5,000 euros per household, LichtBlick said.

Essentially, this is a lease package producing hot water and electricity for the home. The hot water is for heating and typical hot water consumption. The electricity should produce a surplus to be sold back into the grid.

Am I tempted? You betcha.