Decentralised Energy Management

SoLAR aims to demonstrate how to maximize the use of fluctuating renewable energies in a decentralized energy system in a particularly simple, generally accepted and economical way. This demonstration project will show under real conditions how renewable energy shares can be highly increased and carbon reduction reduced at a district level, by implementing a modular and scalable energy management under real-life conditions.
The pilot site in Allensbach, Germany, comprises a residential real estate energy system of 10 buildings, coupling heat and power vectors (heat pumps, cogeneration, thermal storages, batteries, solar photovoltaics).

Virtual Demonstration

EIFER has developed a virtual demonstrator of the 25-dwelling pilot site that has shown successfully the feasibility of decentralized energy management systems. This virtual demonstrator is a highly realistic simulation of the real pilot, making use of latest modelling techniques such as agent-based and multi-method approaches.

Improved Use of Local Energy

The current use case of the energy management system has achieved to maximise self-consumption of the site from 50% to 80%, making best use of local produced energy; a peak reduction up to 36% alleviating the distribution grid; and a cost reduction of 2-5ct/kWh allowing the end consumer to benefit from advantageous tariffs.
Currently, the real demonstration is being carried out and verifying the concept under operational conditions. For this purpose, the project was extended and will carry out monitoring and evaluation until 2022. The virtual demonstrator continues working as a Digital Twin to allow for an ongoing optimization of the system.