Intelligent Energy Supply Systems
Only through the intelligent interaction of energy generation, consumption, storage and distribution can a sustainable energy supply with high system security succeed. Our projects, in which model regions are analysed and future scenarios developed with the help of intelligent software, make a contribution to this.
In addition, we have been designing the climate-neutral energy systems of the future together with Fraunhofer IEG since 2021.
Completed projects
BiStro
Building-integrated thermal storage for load management of power grids with a high share of renewable energy sources
Project duration: September 2013 - June 2017
As the energy transition progresses, electricity grids are increasingly penetrated by fluctuating renewable energy sources. This creates an urgent need for the provision of cost-effective electricity storage or corresponding load management options.
Within the framework of this project, the Solar Institute Jülich at FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, together with its research partners Viessmann, DuPont de Nemours, RWTH Aachen University and Infrawest, is investigating the option of energy storage using buildings heated with heat pumps and equipped with thermal storage capability as an interface between the electricity and heating markets. In this context, the energy storage capability is to be significantly increased with integrated latent heat storage materials. Successful implementation requires the inclusion of the following aspects: Low-temperature heat source adaptation, predictive control and building-side load management, thermal comfort, required and allowed temperature levels. It is determined how electricity purchase prices must be adjusted to the oversupply or undersupply so that refinancing of the additional investments is achieved.
If the project is successfully completed, a system will be available to the market with which, on the one hand, a high negative control capacity (approx. 5 GW for 1 million enclosures) can be activated in a decentralised manner and, on the other hand, a passive storage capacity of several 100 GWh can be provided to balance out fluctuations in renewable energy sources.
Project funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Project partner(s):
- Du Pont
- Infrawest
- RWTH Aachen
- 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 meet 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 as well as Civil Engineering at the 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 capability. In this way, they act as an interface between the electricity and heating markets and contribute to balancing out fluctuations in the electricity grid.
In addition to generator management and building load management, the concept to be developed also includes man-machine communication. This opens up the possibility of efficiently using excess capacities in the fluctuating energy supply from renewable sources and stabilising the electricity grid by providing positive and negative control 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 decision-making scope for the operator in the interplay of CHP, heat pump and storage capacity is prepared and presented, taking into account the weather and usage forecast as well as the requirements from the electricity grid.
Project funding:
SHAREuregio
Development, implementation and establishment of a cross-border, electromobile and flexible sharing system (eCar and eBike)
Funding period: 01.07.2018 - 31.12.2021
The ongoing trend of urbanisation, in Germany and the Netherlands, has a lasting impact on people's mobility behaviour. The variety of flexible mobility offers and improved/simplified access to mobility are becoming more important. Car ownership is becoming less important and companies in particular are faced with the challenge of realigning their corporate mobility management The "SHAREuregio" project pursues the development and integration of a flexible electromobile 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 energy and investment resources. This is being realised in an innovative, cross-border cooperative project with the aim of developing, testing and implementing new electric mobility 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 on the basis of selected future scenarios.
Project partner:
- City of Mönchengladbach
- District of Viersen
- Community of Roermond
- Municipality of Venlo
- NEW AG
- Greenflux Assets BV
- EMTB
- Business Development Corporation for the District of Viersen mbH (WFG)
- Mönchengladbach Economic Development Corporation (WFMG)
- FH Aachen:
- FB 2 - Urban and regional planning, transport planning and technology
- FB 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 the municipal level
Because cultural change cannot be imposed by directives, new qualities of self-motivation are needed. The development of change competence is needed, especially in municipalities, so that sustainable climate CULTURES can better develop locally. What is needed are new climate-friendly values and their implementation in attractive lifestyles. For this reason, Climate Alliance, together with its partners Pestel Institut gGmbH and Solar-Institut Jülich der FH Aachen (SIJ), has launched a dialogue-oriented process: the ClimateCulture-Lab (CCL).
With 16 analogue workshops in municipalities as well as an online platform, the ClimateCULTUR change is to be accelerated at the municipal level. Using the example of climate-friendly energy supply, cultural correlations are clarified and model approaches for (partial) system solutions are suggested. The focus is on the needs and motivation of the participants 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 protection initiative.
Further information:
KomRev
The municipal efficiency revolution for climate protection in German cities - prerequisites, transformation paths and effects
Project duration: 11/2012 - 12/2016
In the KomRev project, efficient energy use and supply concepts were developed using the city of Rheine as an example. The aim was to achieve a largelyCO2"free" energy supply in 2050 by sensibly networking the areas of electricity, heat and transport. Together with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and the German Aerospace Centre, two concepts for a future-oriented and sustainable energy supply were developed for the city of Rheine.
The final report can be found here .
From the energy supply concepts developed for Rheine, the "Handbook of Basic Methodological Questions for Masterplan Development" was compiled to accompany the project. It provides information for committed municipalities that 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 for providing flexibility options in power grids
Funding period: 01.11.2019 - 31.10.2022
The planned increase in electricity generation from renewable energies, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic enclosures, with a simultaneous decline in conventional power plant capacities poses a major challenge for electricity grid stability and energy supply security. Energy supply security can only be ensured through the use of demand-responsive storage technologies as well as other accompanying measures.
The focal points of NOWUM's work in the project:
Bio-Power-to-Gas is a type of energy storage that uses microbes to convert hydrogen - produced by electrolysis in the event of an electricity surplus - into natural gas-equivalent methane, 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 as a meander-shaped tubular reactor. This can significantly minimise both the energy required for operation and the system costs compared to conventional reactors. In addition, a flexible design allows integration into existing building facades, for example. In the project, the use of this structurally flexible and thus decentralisable technology is being tested in real operation for the first time.
The focal points 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 in a model for the Jülich region. All relevant system components are modelled for this purpose and validated using the test operation 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 with regard to scalability are derived.
Quirinus
Regional virtual area power plant vkw++
Project duration: 01.03.2017 to 31.05.2020
Nowadays, a stable, functioning electricity supply is a matter of course. Until now, transmission system operators have ensured this security through 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 in electricity in a decentralised and fluctuating manner, so that both bottlenecks and energy surpluses can arise. This is the major challenge that the QUIRINUSproject is addressing. One approach to a solution that guarantees a reliable power supply even with increasing RE shares in the electricity mix is the bundling of various RE enclosures from the region. This creates an area power plant, also called a virtual power plant. The enclosures are connected via an information and communication network and can exchange data on electricity generation and demand. This data is controlled by a control centre, so that electricity supply and demand can be coordinated from there via system services with a stabilising effect.
The task of the SIJ was to create an ideal portfolio with dynamic expansion scenario simulations with a view to the future energy supply of the region, 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 potentials 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 identified. 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 cogeneration, 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
- Line partner GmbH
- 2G Engery AG
- ewi Energy Research and Scenarios gGmbH
Funded 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:
