Integration of sustainable multi-energy-hub systems at neighbourhood scale (IMES)

The new Swiss “Energy Strategy 2050” faces the following challenges: i) handling the transient nature of both loads and (renewable) energy generation, ii) maintaining system stability (e.g. by providing enough storage capacity), iii) integrating decentralized energy production, mainly at building level and iv) reducing the respective daily and seasonal load and generation imbalances by demand side management and storage. A promising solution addressing these concerns is the decentralized power production based on renewables and natural gas coupled with energy storage (or multi-energy hubs). A decentralized system would allow to: i) balance excess power production (e.g. solar power or wind peak generation) with energy storage (e.g. power-to-gas, batteries) or demand side management, ii) efficiently co-generate electricity and heat (for co-generation or tri-generation) thus reducing CO2 emissions, iii) ease the transition toward larger use of biogas, iv) limiting the cost increase by combining complementary production and demand, and, eventually, v) enhance social acceptance of the energy turnaround through minimizing the plant footprint. Thereby the interaction between energy demand of buildings, the integration through local energy grids, and decentralized energy production is a major challenge.

To find the best combination of technologies in such a complex system and to provide a comprehensive analysis of the decentralized energy production value chain, this project will coordinate the following specific studies (assigned to five different sub-projects involving seven research groups): i) the time-resolved future building energy demand and integration of technologies into buildings (using the energy-hub concept), ii) the technology performance prediction and integration, iii) the economic and market analysis, iv) overall energy-hub system control and v) the social impact evaluation.

Important industry partners (EWZ, Alstom, Zurich City, VSG and Amstein+Walthert) support the project, and contribute with data and advise. Collaborations with the NFP70 project "Assessing Future Electricity Market Models" and all relevant Swiss Competence Centres for Energy Research are planned. Bringing together all the required expertise, from the thermodynamic to the economic and social point of view, this project will permit to clearly assess the potential role of decentralized multi-energy systems for future power generation.