Intelligent energy supply systems
This research focus is being carried out in co-operation with the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy IEG. You can find more information here: Competence Centre "Integrated Neighbourhood Planning"
Completed projects
BiStro
Building-integrated thermal storage for load management of electricity grids with a high proportion of renewable energy sources
Project duration: September 2013 - June 2017
As the energy transition progresses, the electricity grids are increasingly penetrated by fluctuating renewable energy sources. This creates an urgent need to provide cost-effective electricity storage systems or corresponding load management options.
As part of this project, the Solar Institute Jülich at FH Aachen, together with its research partners Viessmann, DuPont de Nemours, RWTH Aachen University and Infrawest, is investigating the option of energy storage using buildings heated by heat pumps and equipped with thermal storage capacity as an interface between the electricity and heating markets. The aim is to significantly increase the energy storage capacity with integrated latent heat storage materials. Successful implementation requires the following aspects to be taken into account: Adaptation of the low-temperature heat source, predictive control and building-side load management, thermal comfort, required and permissible temperature levels. It is determined how electricity purchase prices must be adjusted to the oversupply or undersupply so that the additional investment can be refinanced.
If the project is successfully completed, a system will be available to the market that can be used to activate a high level of negative control power (approx. 5 GW for 1 million enclosures) in a decentralised manner and provide passive storage capacity of several 100 GWh to compensate for fluctuations in renewable energy sources.
Project funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Project partners:
- Du Pont
- Infrawest
- RWTH Aachen University
- Viessmann
Dessert
Development of concepts, components and system solutions for the use of buildings as a decentralised interface between heat and electricity markets with a high proportion of renewable energy technologies
Project duration: January 2014 - December 2017
The increasing use of renewable energy technologies to cover energy demand requires the development of technical solutions for efficient, flexible and cost-effective generation and load management.
An interdisciplinary research network consisting of the Solar Institute Jülich and the Faculties of Energy Technology, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and Civil Engineering at FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the challenge of equipping buildings with heat pumps (HP) or combined heat and power (CHP) units and thermal storage capacity. In this way, it acts as an interface between the electricity and heating markets and helps to balance out fluctuations in the electricity grid.
In addition to generator management and building load management, the concept to be developed also includes human-machine communication. This opens up the possibility of efficiently utilising excess capacities in the fluctuating energy supply from renewable sources and stabilising the electricity grid by providing positive and negative balancing power. Using the example of a fictitious reference building (hardware-in-the-loop, simulation), the potential of the concept is determined, whereby in particular the scope for decision-making for the operator in the interaction of CHP, heat pump and storage capacity is prepared and presented, taking into account the weather and utilisation forecast as well as the requirements from the power grid.
Project funding:
SHAREuregio
Development, implementation and establishment of a cross-border, electromobile and flexibilised sharing system (eCar and eBike)
Funding period: 01.07.2018 - 31.12.2021
The ongoing trend towards urbanisation in Germany and the Netherlands is having a lasting impact on people's mobility behaviour. The variety of flexible mobility options and improved/simplified access to mobility are becoming more important. Car ownership is becoming less important and companies in particular are facing the challenge of realigning their corporate mobility management The "SHAREuregio" project is pursuing the development and integration of a flexible electric car and bike sharing system for the cities of Venlo, Roermond, the greater Mönchengladbach area and the district of Viersen.
The new service is primarily intended to contribute to improving air quality and the more efficient use of renewable energies and investment funds. This is being realised in an innovative, cross-border cooperative project with the aim of developing, testing and implementing new electromobility concepts. At the same time, SHAREuregio is an integrative approach, which means that in the form of an "e-mobility as a service" platform, mobility offers and means of transport will be better linked and networked. SHAREuregio will offer e-mobility (e-cars and e-bikes) for business trips and also for private journeys. The project will promote the use of electric vehicles and further sensitise companies and private individuals to the topic of electromobility.
The Solar Institute Jülich is modelling the sharing system as a building block of a future sector-coupled energy supply and is investigating the greenhouse gas reduction potential of such a flexible electromobile car and bike sharing system using selected future scenarios.
Project partners:
- City of Mönchengladbach
- District of Viersen
- Municipality of Roermond
- Municipality of Venlo
- NEW AG
- Greenflux Assets BV
- EMTB
- Economic Development Agency for the District of Viersen mbH (WFG)
- Mönchengladbach Economic Development Corporation (WFMG)
- FH Aachen:
- FB 2 - Urban and spatial planning, transport planning and technology
- Department 5 - m2c-lab
- FB 6 - Automotive engineering laboratory
- Solar Institute Jülich
Project website: https://shareuregio.eu/?lang=de
ClimateCultureLab - CCL
A platform for the development of climate-friendly cultures at municipal level
Because cultural change cannot be prescribed by guidelines, new qualities of self-motivation are needed. The development of change competences is needed, especially in municipalities, so that sustainable climate CULTURES can develop better locally. New climate-friendly values and their implementation in attractive lifestyles are needed. This is why the Climate Alliance, together with its partners Pestel Institut gGmbH and the Solar Institute Jülich of FH Aachen (SIJ), has launched a dialogue-oriented process: the ClimateCulture Lab (CCL).
With 16 analogue workshops in municipalities and an online platform, the aim is to accelerate the ClimateCulture transformation at municipal level. Using the example of climate-friendly energy supply, cultural interrelationships are clarified and model approaches for (partial) system solutions are suggested. The focus is on the needs and motivation of those involved from the municipalities. Together with them, a dialogue and learning format is being developed to spread cultures that anchor climate protection and sustainability in perception, values and behaviour.
Project funding period: October 2016 - September 2019
by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as part of the National Climate Initiative.
Further information:
ComRev
The municipal efficiency revolution for climate protection in German cities - prerequisites, transformation paths and effects
Project duration: 11/2012 - 12/2016
The KomRev project is developing efficient energy utilisation and supply concepts using the city of Rheine as an example. The aim was to achieve a largelyCO2-free energy supply in 2050 by sensibly networking the electricity, heating and transport sectors. Together with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and the German Aerospace Centre, two concepts for a future-proof and sustainable energy supply were developed for the city of Rheine.
The final report can be found here .
The energy supply concepts developed for Rheine were used to compile the "Handbook of basic methodological questions for drawing up a masterplan" to accompany the project. It provides information for committed local authorities who want to develop sustainable and climate-friendly strategies for urban planning.
The handbook can be downloaded free of charge from the BMUB website:
https://www.klimaschutz.de/sites/default/files/handbuch_methodischer_grundfragen_bf_cps_final.pdf
SmartBioFlex
Meander-shaped tubular reactor for biological methanation as chemical storage to provide flexibility options in power grids
Funding period: 01.11.2019 - 31.10.2022
The planned expansion of electricity generation from renewable energies, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic systems, coupled with a simultaneous decline in conventional power plant capacities poses a major challenge for the stability of the electricity grid and the security of energy supply. Energy supply security can only be guaranteed through the use of needs-based storage technologies and other accompanying measures.
NOWUM's main areas of work in the project:
Bio-Power-to-Gas is a type of energy storage in which microbes are used to convert hydrogen - produced by electrolysis when there is an oversupply of electricity - into methane equivalent to natural gas, which can be fed into the existing natural gas grid almost without restriction. The aim of the project is the construction and test operation of a new type of reactor design in the form of a meandering tubular reactor. This can significantly minimise both the energy required for operation and the system costs compared to conventional reactors. In addition, the flexible design means that it can be integrated into existing building facades, for example. In the project, the use of this structurally flexible and therefore decentralised technology is being tested in real operation for the first time.
The main focus of the SIJ's work in the project:
The effect of the reactor on the overarching sector-coupled energy system and its stabilisation potential with a focus on the electricity grid will be determined as a model for the Jülich region. All relevant system components are modelled and validated using test operating data. Expansion scenarios for future load and generation profiles are developed, taking into account the expansion of renewable energies, sector coupling and changed energy requirements (e.g. increased use of e-mobility), so that future operating scenarios can be simulated for selected grid areas. Potentials for transferability to other grid areas and scalability are derived.
Quirinus
Regional virtual area power plant vkw++
Project duration: 01.03.2017 to 31.05.2020
Nowadays, a stable power supply is a matter of course. Until now, transmission system operators have ensured this security via conventional nuclear, gas or coal-fired power plants. This is now changing with the energy transition. Conventional power plants are increasingly being replaced by renewable energies (RE). However, wind and PV enclosures feed electricity into the grid in a decentralised and fluctuating manner, meaning that both bottlenecks and energy surpluses can occur. This is the major challenge that the QUIRINUS project is addressing. One solution that ensures a reliable power supply even with increasing shares of renewable energy in the electricity mix is the bundling of various renewable energy enclosures from the region. This creates an area power plant, also known as a virtual power plant. The enclosures are connected to each other via an information and communication network and can exchange data on electricity generation and demand. This data is managed by a control centre so that the electricity supply and demand can be coordinated from there via system services to ensure stability.
The task of the SIJ was to create an ideal portfolio with dynamic expansion scenario simulations with a view to the region's future energy supply, taking into account the potential for the medium-term expansion of RE plants and possible changes on the consumer side as well as planned or decided RE expansion measures. Together with the identified flexibility potential on the load side (e.g. for electricity-intensive industry, heat pumps, e-mobility), the specific challenges and opportunities of a vkw++ for the energy transition at distribution grid level were determined. Greenhouse gas reduction and grid expansion avoidance potentials were derived from selected scenarios.
A regional association of distribution grid operators, energy suppliers, manufacturers and operators of enclosures such as data communication, flywheel storage and combined heat and power generation as well as the two research institutes together form the project consortium. The applicant and consortium leader is Regionetz GmbH, based in Eschweiler.
Project partners:
- Regionetz GmbH
- NEW-Netz GmbH
- SAE IT-systems GmbH & Co. KG
- STORNETIC GmbH
- RWE AG
- Leitungspartner GmbH
- 2G Engery AG
- ewi Energy Research and Scenarios gGmbH
Supported by:
- Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
- European Union - Investing in our future, European Regional Development Fund
- EFRE.NRW - Investment in growth and employment
Project homepage:
