Plan4.Energy – methodological set for the planning support of positive energy districts

Starting point / motivation

Positive energy districts provide a new concept in the implementation of sustainable solutions on system level that can contribute to local climate protection strategies. This concept combines previous technological developments on the system level in order to achieve positive overall effects on the energy system.

The planning of positive energy districts demands interdisciplinary approaches, which requires the development of new methods for planning support and stakeholder engagement. These complement the integration of technology solutions in the energy system.

Since such processes represent a challenge, especially with regard to the different professional languages, understanding of a specific content, knowledge base and different interests, supporting measures for the planning process are essential.

Contents and goals

The goal of Plan4.Energy is the development of a methodological set for planning support of positive energy districts. By applying a data-based system integration, this will enable a user-friendly quantitative assessment of the available options for the development of a positive energy district considering energy community approaches. The Plan4.Energy tool will provide the basis for future standardisation of the planning process of positive energy districts.

The methodological set accompanies the entire planning process: from a preliminary analysis identifying the greatest leverage through stakeholder workshops, to the creation of a detailed concept that serves as the basis for possible financing options.

The workflow leads to partial results that are used for coordination in the planning process and support the stakeholders in the creation of a specific project. Depending on the results of the preliminary analysis and the expectations from the stakeholder workshop, concepts are created in the accompanying process and these are integrated into a systemic overall concept, taking into account the regulatory, economic and technical framework conditions.

Methods

A broad data stock is created in the project, primarily through the bundling of publicly available data and data from the partners involved in the project. The project uses exchange with the relevant stakeholders (e.g. in the context of workshops) to examine the underlying planning processes.

In order to quantify the planned implementation and to consider interactions on system level, an evaluation logic is developed. User interaction takes place via a user interface that guides through the process. The software development required for this task combines data sources with the relevant algorithms and user interfaces required for the planning process.

Expected results

The innovation of Plan4.Energy is given by the possibility to visualise complex dependencies of tariffs, load and generation profiles, investments in infrastructure such as PV, storage or load flexibility for stakeholders such as mayors, real estate developers, architects, or planners. This allows stakeholders without the relevant background knowledge to assess project variants in a realistic way.

As a result, the stakeholders involved in the planning process are able to quickly and easily evaluate the available options and get an overview of specific outcomes.

Project management

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Center for Energy

Project or cooperation partners

• BlueSky Energie GmbH
• Energie Kompass GmbH
• Fronius International GmbH
• Kapsch BusinessCom AG
• Rabmer GreenTech GmbH
• Renault Österreich GmbH
• Siblik Elektrik GmbH und Co. KG
• Siemens Österreich AG

Branislav Iglár
Giefinggasse 4
A-1210 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (50) 0550 - 6650
E-mail: branislav.iglar@ait.ac.at
Web: www.ait.ac.at/en