Renewable energies, especially PV systems, are increasingly being considered as part of buildings. In most cases, however, energy generation and consumption are not optimally harmonised. By intelligently controlling the systems and scaling the buildings under consideration at neighbourhood level, the generation and consumption of electricity can be better coordinated.

The neighbourhood energy management system (QEMS) software for neighbourhoods was developed to simulate such intelligent system control and is now available as open source software. It was developed as part of the Energy Efficient Neighbourhood Quarter Fliegerhorst Oldenburg (ENaQ) project.

The simulation calculates optimal schedules, simulates the course of the day and analyses deviations between the forecast, schedules and operation down to the minute. In addition to the scaling of the buildings under consideration, the coupling between the heat and electricity sectors is a particularly important part of the optimisation, which offers more opportunities to coordinate generation and consumption.

It is currently possible to use the tool to simulate the operation of different neighbourhoods. The mosaik co-simulation framework established by OFFIS is used for the simulations. Various device simulators are available, such as PV systems, batteries, heat pumps and storage units. There are also simulators for households, the weather and the option to save data from the simulation in a database.

The use of QEMS to optimise operations has now also aroused the interest of industry: several potential partnerships are currently being evaluated. One partnership that has already been successfully established is with Beton- und Energietechnik Heinrich Gräper GmbH & Co. KG. The next project from the ENaQ context is also in the starting blocks and is concerned with the monitoring and operation of plants.

For further development, it is planned to expand QEMS to include visualisations of the simulation process on the one hand and an interface for simple configuration of a neighbourhood on the other. For real operation, work is also being carried out in cooperation with Gräper to ensure that QEMS runs outside of the mosaik framework and that real systems can be connected and controlled.

With the milestone of open source provision, QEMS has taken a major step forward in the simulation and optimisation of energy systems. The future of QEMS is secured through co-operations and further projects.

More Information: https://helleheide.de/