IEA EBC Annex 82: Energy flexible buildings towards resilient low carbon energy systems

The aim of the Annex is to gain knowledge about the energy flexibility services that buildings and clusters of buildings may deliver to different types of energy networks. The project increases the knowledge about the barriers and motivation for the stakeholders. Their constructive involvement is a key for making building energy flexibility a value for the resilience of future energy networks.

Short Description

Current situation and motivation

In many countries, the share of renewable energy sources is increasing in parallel with an extensive electrification of the energy demand. These changes, on both the demand and supply sides, impose new challenges to the management of energy systems. Thus, a paradigm shift is required - away from existing systems, where energy supply always follows demand, to a system where the demand side considers available supply.

Aims and content

Investigation of energy-flexible energy systems in buildings and neighbourhoods
Investigation of models that integrate decentralized storage and demand response into the energy market
Investigation of resilience strategies to ensure the security and reliability of the energy supply
Analysis of the management of distributed energy resources (DERs), energy storage systems and flexible loads that are connected to intelligent distribution networks (electrical and thermal networks) and their contribution to the energy flexibility of building clusters and neighbourhoods
Further development of the characterization methodology of energy-flexible buildings from the IEA EBC Annex 67 and roll-out to quarters
Analysis of demonstration neighbourhoods and models as well as literature research on the subject of energy flexibility of neighbourhoods
Analysis of services that buildings can provide. These are interlinked and compared with services from renewables and other technologies as well as those from energy networks in the neighbourhood.
Analysis of the motivation and obstacles for the stakeholders involved in order to determine how they can be involved in the development of suitable technical solutions, cooperation and business models

Specific objectives of the Austrian participation

The characterization and building labelling method from the former EBC Annex 67 is to be evaluated and further developed for Austria, further indicators analysed for their usefulness. For this purpose, case studies of the project partners are evaluated and the Flexibility Evaluation Tool (FET) from AEE INTEC is adapted as an evaluation tool for building clusters. Political requirements as well as new cooperation and business models are analysed together with the target groups of the construction and building sector as well as energy suppliers and service companies for heat and electricity. The findings from participation in the Annex flow directly into the implementation of a national smart readiness indicator (SRI) methodology.

Structure of the Annex

The Annex will be structured in four Subtasks:

Subtask A: Scaling from single buildings to clusters of buildings
Subtask B: Flexibility and resilience in multi-carrier energy systems
Subtask C: Stakeholder acceptance and engagement
Subtask D: Development of appropriate implementation (business) models

Results

The main findings will be published in three international reports with Austrian participation. The results are prepared nationally for the target groups, such as building professionals, control companies, ICT and energy service providers, and for the research community.

Project Images

Terms of use: The pictures listed underneath the header “Project Pictures” originate from the projects in the frame of the programmes City of Tomorrow, Building of Tomorrow and the IEA Research Cooperation. They may be used credited for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC).

Participants

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark (Operating Agent), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA

Contact Address

Armin Knotzer
AEE – Institut für Nachhaltige Technologien (AEE INTEC)
E-Mail: a.knotzer@aee.at

Doris Österreicher
BOKU Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
Department für Raum, Landschaft und Infrastruktur
Institut für Raumplanung, Umweltplanung und Bodenordnung (IRUB)
E-Mail: doris.oesterreicher@boku.ac.at

Thomas Märzinger
BOKU Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
Institut für Verfahrens- und Energietechnik (IVET)
E-Mail: thomas.maerzinger@boku.ac.at

Johanna Spreitzhofer
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
Center for Energy
E-Mail: johanna.spreitzhofer@ait.ac.at