ZukunftBau

Along with the turnaround in energy policy in Germany comes a steady increase in renewable energy sources. Due to the stochastic nature of wind and solar power the energy supply grows volatile resulting in fluctuating energy prices. In this environment, companies are forced to adapt their production plants and systems in a way that they react flexibly to the changes in energy supply.

In the project "Potentials of buildings in the context of the future energy supply structure in Germany", the effects of such buildings on the electricity grid are being investigated. Through the coupled simulation of buildings, their intelligent control and the electricity system, concrete effects of load management in building heating on the electricity grid can be investigated. For this purpose, detailed building models of single-family homes, apartment buildings and offices are created, which cover all relevant building age classes and represent approx. 80 % of the space heating demand in Germany. Using model predictive control, the heating systems are controlled depending on the electricity price. With the help of the load profiles generated in this way, the potential of flexible buildings for the electricity system is examined in an electricity system model.

The aim of the joint research project FOREnergy granted by the Bavarian Research Foundation is to explore concepts and solutions for energy flexibility in production. The project combines over 20 industry partners as well as 5 academic partners from different institutes. The Institute for Energy Economy and Application Technology executes two of eight subprojects.