SeasonalGridStorage - Innovative seasonale thermal storages for urban district heating grids

Sensible storages, which are currently used in district heating networks for seasonal storage of excess heat (e.g. from solar thermal or industrial waste heat), exhibit high space demand, investment costs and heat losses. Within this project, concepts for using innovative storage technologies, e.g. thermochemical storages (TCS) having high heat densities and enabling pressure- and lossless storage, were developed and analyzed on a technological, economic and ecological basis. Additionally, the regulatory framework has been evaluated.

SRI Austria - Smart Readiness Indicator: Rating scheme and opportunities for smart buildings

Stakeholder interviews on the "smartness" of buildings, a technology screening, impact analysis and classification of possible technologies / services plus master's theses form the basis of a proposal for the national implementation of the "smart readiness indicator" of buildings and accompanying measures, in coordination with the OIB, regional and national governmental representatives.

CiQuSo - City Quarters with optimised solar hybrid heating and cooling systems

The project CiQuSo aimed to develop, evaluate and optimize concepts for solar energy systems to provide energy for buildings and cities. The applicability of the developed methods and concepts were shown as an example at Itzling, a part of Salzburg city.

Innovation lab act4energy

The Innovation Lab act4energy is set up as an innovation laboratory project. Its focus is to solve the problems of renewable energies integration with a focus on photovoltaic power paired with local consumption, linked to the the high fluctuation of renewable energies.

TFlex - Temperature-flexibilisation in low-load operation of local district heating systems

Within the research project TFlex it was checked if the losses adherent to small district heating networks during low-load periods can be reduced. One possible solution is by deactivating the network and supplying the customers from previously charged decentralized storages. The optimal clustering of the storages and the possibility of solar-charging the storage were calculated with the aim of a guaranteed one-hundred percent heat supply.

ÖKO-OPT-QUART - Economically optimized control and operating mode of complex energy networks of future city districts

In the project ÖKO-OPT-QUART energy-based, economic and control-orientated models will be developed in order to simulate the operating mode of complex, sustainable energy networks in city districts. For an exemplary configuration these models will be combined to an overall model which allows a realistic economic comparison of different control strategies. The final goal of the project is the development of a method for the systematic design of cost-optimized, predictive control strategies for complex energy networks in city districts.

Symbiose-4-I&C - Optimal decentralized hybrid storage technologies among different energy systems -4-Industry and Commerce

The project Symbiose-4-I&C analysed the coupling of existing energy networks/-carriers, established on centralized energy network nodes or directly next to a consumer (households, industry and commerce) and the benefits of applying decentralized storage technologies. The optimal position, dimension and the right storage and conversion technology and an optimal energy wide operation of larger consumer groups were estimated for an urban model region.

OPEN HEAT GRID - Open Heat Grids in urban hybrid systems

The primary research topic of OPEN HEAT GRID was to investigate the possibilities of enforcing the feed-in of industrial waste heat into existing district heating networks. The project results show that excess heat is not for free: despite minimal variable costs, the investment costs need to satisfy usual payback periods. The analysis shows that there is no need for a regulation in the sense of a feed-in obligation or market liberalization. However, from an economic point of view, information asymmetries exist, which may lead to irrational decisions.

AR-HES-B – Energy storage, production and recovery of valuable substances in wastewater treatment plants

AR-HES-B develops technologically based concepts of municipal wastewater treatment plants in order to convert them from energy consumers into a hybrid energy provider, energy storage and a provider of resources. The concept enables wastewater plants to turn into an important platform in the regional energy and mass transfer.

REC-Businesspark - Investigation of the first Austrian renewable energy community business and industrial park

In the course of the project, the conceptual design of a zero-emission or plus-energy business park in Weiz with a focus on photovoltaics and fuel cells in combination with a Renewable Energy Community (E-EGe) had been carried out. By establishing the park on a "greenfield", all structures can be created according to the requirements of the E-EGe.

Smart Energy Systems / SESWA - Award

Im Rahmen der Smart Energy Systems Week wird der "Smart Energy Systems Award“ in vier Kategorien vergeben und zeichnet neben herausragenden wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten und Forschungsprojekten auch konkrete Demonstrationsvorhaben und Start Ups aus.