NETSE - User orientated development of technologies and services for energy communities
Short Description
Status
ongoing
Starting point / motivation
In the past two decades, different measures were taken in all European countries in order to promote the energy generation from renewable resources. Since the 2000s, the Electricity Market Directive and the Renewable Energy Directive determine the legislative basis for the European energy policy.
An issue, which was addressed during the update of those directives in 2018 and 2019 respectively, is the continuing support of renewable energy generation at, simultaneously, ensuring a high level of distribution quality in the energy grids.
In order to achieve those goals, a massive increase of photovoltaic electricity generation is inevitable. The installation of this generation capacity mainly takes place in the lower levels of the electricity grid. In order to address the goal of high distribution quality, it is necessary to use the generated photovoltaic electricity locally (in the lower grid levels). Thereby, the installation of higher generation capacities at existing grid capacities can be realized.
Contents and goals
The possibility of forming an energy community should support this goal, as participants can share energy locally and therefore contribute to an even distribution of electricity on a low distribution grid level. Services needed for the operation of energy communities should have a high level of usability and have to be accepted by users.
In this project, the service engineering method is used at an early development stage, in order to guarantee a high user acceptance. Another challenge is the implementation of different relevant technologies in the energy communities, as there is no standardized data interface available.
In the course of the project a data platform is developed, in which control operations for technical components of the energy community can be implemented in order to overcome interoperability issues. In addition, the handling of business operations should be implemented in the data platform.
Energy communities are a new kind of organization, as they are not allowed to generate profits, but should provide a possibility for users to profit economically from the participation (e.g. from reduced grid tariffs). In the course of the project, concepts and principles for the organization of energy communities are developed.
In order to reach the desired goals, energy communities have to have a significant effect on the installation of photovoltaic electricity generation and therefore also reduction of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the configuration and operation of an energy community has to be optimized. In the project a tool, that provides the optimal technical configuration and control strategies, e.g. in order to regulate loads and integrates energy storage systems, should be further developed.
Methods
The utilization of service engineering methods ensures that the investigated applications for energy communities, that include high level of user integration, are developed under the viewpoint of user acceptance and user requirements. The optimal configuration of energy communities is ensured by the utilization of optimization tools, which include model predictive approaches. The development of organization types for energy communities also includes the investigation of different tariff models.
Expected results
In the course of the project, basic knowledge considering the relevance of user requirements regarding applications for energy communities is generated. The data and information platform represents a central element for the implementation and the operation of energy communities. Additionally, concepts and tariff models for the organization of energy communities are developed.
Project Partners
Project management
University for Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt / Department for Sustainable Energy Systems and Bio.Economy
Project or cooperation partners
- 4Ward research GmbH
- BEST research GmbH
- Austrian Institute for Technology AIT
- Microtronics Engineering GmbH
- Municipality of Wieselburg
- Ella GmbH
- Netz Niederösterreich GmbH
- EVN AG
Contact Address
University for Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt / Department for Sustainable Energy Systems and Bio.Economy
Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Franz Theuretzbacher
Zeiselgraben 4
A-3251 Purgstall
Tel.: +43 (7416) 53000 480
E-mail: franz.theuretzbacher@fhwn.ac.at
Web: www.fhwn.ac.at