SENSIBLE: Storage-Enabled Sustainable Energy for Buildings and Communities | edp.com

Goal

• SENSIBLE is a demonstration project aiming at integrating electro-chemical, electro-mechanical and thermal storage technologies as well micro-generation (combined heat and power, heat pumps) and renewable energy sources (photovoltaics) into power and energy networks as well as homes and buildings.
• The benefits of storage integration will be demonstrated in three different demonstrators in Portugal, UK and Germany. The aim is to create value not only for distribution grid operation and electrical system, but also for end customers in behind the meter applications.
• Moreover, sustainable business models will be proposed based on connecting the local storage capacity with the energy markets. SENSIBLE will also conduct life cycle analyses and assess the socio-economic impact of small-scale storage integrated in buildings and distribution networks.

Highlights

• Led by Siemens Corporate Technology A.G.;
• NEW R&D/ Labelec leads demonstration work package.

Three Demonstrations

• Évora (Portugal) will be implemented in a rural grid which is considered weak and potentially unreliable. The focus will be to demonstrate storage-enabled power flow, power quality control and grid resilience/robustness in (predominantly low-voltage) power distribution networks.
• Nottingham (UK) will be implemented in a social neighborhood with high level of environmental commitment. It will focus on storage-enabled energy management and energy market participation of buildings (homes) and communities. The local grid is considered strong, thereby with no or few restrictions from the grid.
• Nuremberg (Germany) will be deployed inside THN (Nuremberg University) laboratories. It will focus on multi-modal energy storage in larger buildings, considering thermal storage, combined heat and power, and different energy vectors (electricity, gas).

NEW R&D’s scope

• From NEW R&D’s perspective, several particular goals were identified:
• Demonstrate concrete applications of distributed energy storage and energy management in the distribution grid creating value for the distribution grid operator and enabling innovative business models and competitiveness / efficiency on the retail side.
• Understand how EDP’s Smart Grid concept should evolve in order to facilitate referred applications.
• Develop business cases of the different distributed energy management and energy storage applications in order to determine the optimal mix of applications in different scenarios (different grid contexts, penetration of distributed generation, etc.).
• Understand and recommend what regulatory framework and policy developments should be promoted.

Partners: