National Projects
National Projects
National Projects
The research and innovation activities of SmILES base on a large pool of national projects. The national projects provide us with component models, control strategies and operational experience of electrical and thermal storage technologies and represent the data base for the application system configurations. The pool of national projects amounts to a total of 13.860.516 €. The requested funding of 2.440.682 € results in a leveraging factor of 5,6.
The different national research activities are complementary, as they address the storage challenge at different scales; from the development of the technology, to its implementation and large scale deployment, with the evaluation of the adequate diffusion methodology as well as for different application cases for the industrial or the urban districts. Exchange of knowledge between partners will enable the detection of replicable cases at the European scale, to build up a relevant pool of reference cases.
The project aims at gathering knowledge and expertise about the implementation of storage technology in local multi-energy systems at the European level. National research activities led by each partners tackle this topic with a perimeter specific to each nation as well as a specific focus. In the following the central national projects gathered within SmILES are described in more detail.
The system configurations (SC) based on national projects of the partners are chosen to favour a high relevance for their replication throughout Europe. They include:
In the EnergyLab Nordhavn project, DTU participates in the development and demonstration of future energy solutions. The project utilizes Copenhagen’s new Nordhavn neighbourhood as a full-scale smart city energy lab and demonstrates how electricity and heating, energy-efficient buildings, storage and electric transport can be integrated into an intelligent, flexible and optimised energy system which is able to integrate a large share of renewable energy.
The project addresses key challenges of future smart energy systems: (1) Development of a coherent flexible energy system with novel technical solutions like energy storage by variable district heating temperatures, buildings providing flexibility and more integrated markets, where infrastructures are closely interconnected and operationally co-optimised. (2) Rethinking energy infrastructure design and dimensioning methods to accommodate, e.g. new low heat demanding buildings, new dynamic patterns from responsive prosumers and technologies to shift between use of electricity and district heating. (3) Development of energy technologies providing grid services by smart cost-effective controllers, associated new business models and user interactions.
The AIT in an upcoming project sets the framework for its study to typical Austrian suburban areas, with single- and multi-family homes and local businesses. The study case of Köstendorf presents a district heating network and an extensive photovoltaics infrastructure. A concept of electric mobility has been assessed with the implementation of electric cars for one every third household in the area, in order to evaluate the corresponding diffuse electrical storage potential.
Through the Energy Lab 2.0 project KIT is participating in the development of a smart platform for the modelling of micro-grids to join electrical, thermal and chemical energy flows, as well as new information and communication technologies. The platform aims at a better control, monitoring and visualisation for the evaluation of innovative strategies for dimensioning and operation of smart grids. The KIT activities within the SCI (Storage and Cross-linked Infrastructures) Programme on behalf of the German Helmholtz Association are more technology oriented, as they explore the key aspects for a more interconnected transmission and distribution infrastructure, such as superconductivity, fuel cell and hydrogen technologies.
EDF: The city of Aulnoy-Lez-Valenciennes constitutes an adequate study case, with its high potential for the integration of local renewable energies in its thermal energy mix. Solar energy can be collected in a greenhouse and stored in a nearby underground aquifer to balance the seasonal fluctuations of the heat demand to supply the 250 low-rise to middle-rise buildings. This centralised system for heat production can be backed up with the mutualized operation of decentralised geothermal probes. This study case about the energy network design as well as the architectural, social and environmental impact is addressed in collaboration with the architectural bureau A2E (Atelier d’Etudes Environnementales).
A second study case is proposed together with EDF’s energy efficiency subsidiary Dalkia. The city of Brest hosts a district heating network (DHN) which currently covers 25 km and supplies 20,000 housing equivalents (mostly residential and tertiary). 90% of the heat generation is provided by recovered and renewable energies thanks to a Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) plant. The study will include the analysis for the possible extension of the DHN to irrigate 10,000 more households and the integration of a biomass heating plant with heat storage by 2017. Objectives are threefold: to reduce the financial costs, the CO2 impact and the primary energy needs.
VITO participated in Linear, a Flemish Smart Grid project focusing on demand response solutions in residential areas. In this context, Linear investigated several storage applications for smart grids. Two main storage concepts served as the starting point: storing electricity in batteries and storing heat in thermal buffers (e.g. in domestic hot water buffers). For both main concepts Linear modelled, simulated and evaluated in practice storage solutions at both district and household level, which involved centralised and decentralised variants. A unique feature of Linear was connecting technical research with an appreciation of economic and societal aspects. This included the analysis of user behaviour and acceptance of implemented technical solutions and an evaluation of different possible business cases for valorising offered flexibility in electricity consumption.