The heat turnaround is a central pillar of the energy turnaround with the aim of decarbonizing the supply of heating in buildings and for processes in both the private and the commercial and industrial sectors. On the one hand, this is to be achieved by substituting fossil fuels with renewable energies. On the other hand, overall heat consumption and fundamental transmission heat and ventilation losses must be reduced. Here, digitization plays a central role alongside refurbishment.

In the medium term, the smart meter infrastructure – currently being rolled out across Germany – will play an important role in the comprehensible capturing and optimization of heat demand in buildings, neighborhoods, commerce and industry. This will enable secure and reliable IT networking of decentralized components for the heat turnaround and the associated sector coupling. The open and cross-sector usability of gateway communication enables the integration and incorporation of a wide variety of processes and sources of information for CO2 reduction in the heat turnaround.

Within this project, different innovative / technological facets of the digitalization of the heat turnaround in six research fields, in the northwest around the Oldenburg / Bremen region, are to be practically researched, implemented and demonstrated in their interaction:

• Research field 1 "Regional online platform for energy efficiency optimization and business models" pursues the goal of generating a regional platform for the exchange of knowledge and best practices for the energy efficiency optimization of real estate as well as the referral of interested parties to providers of corresponding measures and financing and funding programs.
• In research field 2 "Secure gateways and routers as a basis for value-added services", the focus of the investigation is on residential value-added services based on a BSI-compliant infrastructure in accordance with the German GDEW (Gesetz zur Digitalisierung der Energiewende, engl. Law on the Digitization of the Energy Transition).
• Research Field 3 "Digitized experimental campus building physics" fully digitizes different buildings on a university campus area so that they serve as a reference for future new buildings and renovations in the university landscape in Germany and beyond.
• In research field 4 "Experimental campus sustainable heat transition", innovative cooling and heating systems of a university campus are to be realized in order to research sector coupling at the campus level.
• In research field 5 "Transformation strategies for urban long-distance and local heat supply systems", a process for developing heat supply systems for districts is being developed using Bremen as an example. With its help, all steps from typed classification, heat source potential analysis and energy modeling under resilience criteria to investment and business decisions can be documented and published.
• Research field 6 "Climate-friendly heat supply for municipalities" develops a concept for a renewable energy and heat register and implements it using exemplary municipal properties.

Furthermore, two necessary cross-cutting issues will be advanced in parallel:

• Cross-cutting field 1: The practice-relevant research fields will be integrated by a digital heat turnaround platform and enriched by digital value-added services taking into account central aspects such as data protection (DSGVO), IT security and security of supply.
• Cross-cutting field 2: For a qualified installation, operation and further development of these technologies, training and qualification measures for engineers and computer scientists will be developed in a practical way – by involving vocational and higher education institutions as well as specialized research institutions. Innovations from the research fields will be highlighted and transformative ideas derived in order to offer scalable products and applications in the field.

Thus, the project is not only the only one in Germany to comprehensively address the topic of the heat turnaround, but also ensures transferability to other regions and other technologies and fields of application.

Within the scope of the overall project, different innovative / technological facets of the heat turnaround on building, campus, quarter and municipal level will be practically researched, implemented and demonstrated in their interaction in several research fields in the northwest around the region Oldenburg / Bremen.

In the context of the subproject, OFFIS addresses the research and testing of data-based heat turnaround and value-added services for buildings and districts. On the one hand, OFFIS addresses in one of the research fields residential value-added service applications at building level and the research of a necessary comprehensive software and system architecture.

On the other hand, OFFIS addresses in a cross-sectional activity the development and operation of a digital heat turnaround platform for the integration of the different research fields with the focus on two function modules "Big Data and data stream processing" and "OpenData Platform".