The GreenCom project, funded in part by the
European Commission and led on the technical side by Fraunhofer FIT,
ended after 42 months, judged a resounding success.
The project's main result is a Smart Energy
Monitoring and Control system for load management of regional power
grids. A test environment comprising 29 homes on the Danish island Fur
integrates heat pumps, photovoltaic (PV) systems, batteries and
smart-home installations.
“The smart energy management system developed in the
GreenCom project is a control platform that will significantly improve
energy management. It is particularly well suited to smart cities and
similar local communities,” says Dr. Markus Eisenhauer, head of the
User-Centered Computing department of the Fraunhofer Institute for
Applied Information Technology FIT.
The growing share of renewable energy sources leads
to wider load fluctuations in power grids, necessitating new concepts
and ways to avoid overload. What is needed is a flexible smart grid able
to adjust to the fluctuations in the production and the consumption of
electricity.
Forecasts and real-time data take load-balancing measures on a regional level
Here, the GreenCom project focused on regional smart
grid solutions that may help to avoid or minimize the need for grid
expansion on the national level.
The aim was to detect potential instabilities in
power grids by monitoring and forecasting how much power will be
generated and consumed in the households attached to the grid.
On the basis of forecasts and real-time data the
GreenCom system can take load-balancing measures on a regional level,
allowing for an improved balance of supply and demand.
The GreenCom project implemented a realistic test
environment: On the Danish island Fur we worked with the local grid
operator to install the “Smart Energy Monitoring and Control System” in
29 homes. The system can capture, aggregate and analyze, almost in
real-time, data on devices, sensors, actuator and smart meters in
individual homes. Heat pumps, photovoltaic systems and batteries are
attached to the system, but also the smart-home installations built by
Fraunhofer FIT.
The data analysis provides consumption data for
different types of devices and locations as well as short-term forecasts
(for up to 4 hours). This allows planning load-balancing measures.
Large-scale power consumers in the homes are switched on at different
times to avoid peak loads in the grid.
Heating as a service
The forecasts and consumption data collected in the
project were also used to analyze existing business models and develop
new ones. The latter may feature a novel player in the market, called
“aggregator”.
Aggregators offer heating as a service: Homeowners
allow their heat pumps to be controlled remotely and in exchange pay
less for heating their homes. The contracts specify an acceptable
temperate range. Thus the aggregator has some flexibility in reacting to
fluctuating electricity supply and can sell this flexibility to the
grid operator.
This might be a model for controlling the
electricity consumption of residential houses in the future. The owners
would only have to accept that the heat pump is under external control,
without making any compromises in terms of heating comfort or usage
pattern, as heat pumps do not have to work continuously and can be
controlled remotely without any negative effects on the people living in
the house. Here, reduced heating costs may be a convincing economic
argument. If this model actually works on a broader scale remains to be
seen in the coming years.
The GreenCom project was funded in part by the European Commission in the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.
source: http://www.solarserver.com
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