Kiwigrid participates in research project for local energy trading

Imagine a future where electricity trading takes place regionally and we can purchase the surplus electricity produced by the solar cells on our neighbors' roofs directly. A number of projects explore concepts for how this could work. One of them is RegHEE (Regional Renewable Energy Trading Platform), a research project in Germany, where Kiwigrid has participated as technology partner.
 

Goals of the RegHEE research project

More and more power customers want their electricity to be produced sustainably and locally. This presents utilities with new technological challenges. The RegHEE research project explores a sustainable solution for everyday electricity consumption of renewable energies that contributes to grid stability. The aim is to develop a platform for local energy markets that connects to energy management and smart meter systems.

At the moment, renewable energy producers usually feed the surplus electricity produced by their plants such as PV plants, wind turbines and combined heat and power plants into the grid. They then receive a fixed payment for it, in accordance with the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). The platform developed as part of the RegHEE project is intended to enable producers to sell their electricity directly to consumers. In other countries, such as Brazil, this vision is already a reality, albeit using a simpler model based on the meter values of several households.
 

What has already been achieved within the RegHEE research project

As part of an extensive field test, RegHEE has launched a local energy trading platform in the municipality of Oberhausen in Bavaria, Germany. Participants can be electricity consumers as well as producers and book the produced electricity quantities they want to buy or sell on the platform. Via a user interface they can monitor their consumption precisely. They can also set a minimum price for selling electricity in the event of producing a surplus, or a maximum price when buying electricity.
 

Partners involved in the research project

The research project takes place in cooperation with industry and science institutions. The following project partners are involved:

●        Thüga (Network of municipal energy and water suppliers)

●        Technical University of Munich

●        erdgas schwaben (Regional energy provider)

●        Energie Südbayern (Regional energy provider)

●        Syneco (Municipal company for energy procurement)

●        Thüga SmartService (Strategic partner for the digitalization of municipal utilities)
 

Kiwigrid’s contribution

Establishing a local energy trading platform requires precise data on power production and consumption. As technology partner, Kiwigrid provides RegHEE with the necessary hardware and software components for data integration: the Kiwigrid Energy Manager. Once connected, the Energy Manager allows Kiwigrid to provide data on electricity demand and supply from hardware components such as the PV system, electricity storage and smart devices. Forecasts based on this data are then transferred to the market platform, where they are assigned a price and inform supply and demand.

For more information on the research project, please visit reghee.de.

 

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