The Pitch - Make the Shift

A Smart Community is riddled with sensors to gather data about the behavior of everyday life and then use the collected data to optimize such behavior in real-time. Imagine never having to spend time in a traffic jam again, because public advertisement banners direct traffic flow so as to maximize throughput. Imagine a world where traffic lights and street lamps are never out of order, and garbage containers are always emptied on time, because there are sensors signaling about the necessity of servicing an emerging problem before it actually appears. Imagine a city where public roads are permanently maintained in good condition, because tarmac wear is dealt with overnight before the road condition deteriorates to a level where quick repairs are not possible. Imagine never needing to look for a parking space again, because you will know in real time where the available public parking spaces are. Smart energy community is about low environmental footprint solutions which integrate the modern technologies from decentralized customer energy production, smart consumer devices, microgrids, energy storage to machine vision, big data etc.

We are looking for:

We are looking for bright ideas to transform the energy sector into a smart system that maximizes comfort, personalization and opportunity for the end user, all of it without the user ever having to make a single click, while retaining and improving the sector’s economic viability. How can we harness the potential in the E-mobility, the smart and flexible energy management and the Smart energy community visions? How can we make them reach the market and take off? Your idea is ready to change the world. Reach the market and take off? Your idea is ready to change the world.

The future of mobility is electric. Electric vehicles (EV) are becoming more and more competitive with the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and the consumer preference is clearly shifting as well. It is supported both by the decrease in the cost of batteries and in the development of new and better EVs with longer range and cheaper cost. The total cost of ownership of EVs will reach parity with ICE vehicles by 2022. Today, there is practically no infrastructure for rapid charging nor are there enough charging points. The easy part is building lots and lots of new charging points, the hard part is finding the right business models and making sure the power grid is up for the task. The picture has an additional level of complexity as emerging EV chargers become ever smarter, from balancing the power grid to saving charging cost and time – all at the same time. Today all of this is still done either by hand or by using some very simplistic algorithms, Enefit aims to build a system that will radically transform the status quo. Tomorrows e-mobility is smart with seamless client experience and is integrated toward everyday life without skyrocketing demands on electricity network.

We are looking for:

We are looking for bright ideas to transform the energy sector into a smart system that maximizes comfort, personalization and opportunity for the end user, all of it without the user ever having to make a single click, while retaining and improving the sector’s economic viability. How can we harness the potential in the E-mobility, the smart and flexible energy management and the Smart energy community visions? How can we make them reach the market and take off? Your idea is ready to change the world. Reach the market and take off? Your idea is ready to change the world.

Flexibility is about harnessing the potential of demand-side-response operation and localized energy production assets to maintain the balance of the power grid. Electricity supply and demand must be balanced at all times to maintain stable operation of power system and 50 Hz grid frequency. Traditionally, this task has been carried out by conventional power plants. The share of fluctuating renewable energy such as wind and PV increases, the power system needs to find a new way to maintain supply and demand balance. Demand-side response (DSR) is one potential measure to do this. By definition, DSR is a temporary change in electricity consumption by demand resources (e.g. water heaters, production lines etc.) in response to market or reliability concern.

The IEA estimates that by 2040 almost 1 billion households and 11 billion appliances could participate in DSR programmes, over 75% of which is forecasted to lie in buildings with space heating, water heating and air conditioning loads. In EU, the total theoretical potential for DSR as a means to decrease peak loads and defer capacity expansions is estimated to be 160 GW by 2030 (28% of peak load). (ec.europa.eu). Tomorrows smart and flexible energy management services enable wind and PV assets integration to energy system by taking advantage of of DSR capability in wider extent than today.

We are looking for:

We are looking for bright ideas to transform the energy sector into a smart system that maximizes comfort, personalization and opportunity for the end user, all of it without the user ever having to make a single click, while retaining and improving the sector’s economic viability. How can we harness the potential in the E-mobility, the smart and flexible energy management and the Smart energy community visions? How can we make them reach the market and take off? Your idea is ready to change the world. Reach the market and take off? Your idea is ready to change the world.

Large-scale, centralised energy generation (e.g. oil shale- or coal-fired power plants, wind and parks, hydroelectric dams, etc.) has been the backbone of all energy systems. As climate concerns have led to an increased share of intermittent renewable energy, such as wind and photovoltaics, the power system needs more and more flexibility to balance the demand and supply. Smart large-scale energetics offering on-demand clean and affordable energy will continue to have an important role in future energy systems.

TSO is managing the high voltage energy distribution network. With increasingly decentralised energy production, transmission system operators will face challenges in regard to maintaining the stability of the power grid as well as meeting energy demand all over the grid.

DSO is managing the low and medium voltage energy distribution networks. With increasingly decentralised energy production, distribution system operators will face challenges in regard to maintaining the stability of the power grid as well as meeting energy demand all over the grid.

Electricity supply and demand must always be balanced, the frequency and voltage need to be on the right level, etc. We can refer to all of this as energy system services that are aimed at maintaining stable operation of the power system. Ancillary services refer to the services related to maintaining grid stability and security. Load balancing refers to balancing the electrical load on low and high demand periods.

The shift to renewables brings with it many challenges. The majority of renewable energy sources are intermittent in their nature, meaning there is a mismatch between energy demand and supply. This can be overcome by better forecasting the output of renewable assets, by making the demand for energy more flexible, or by having more storage.

As the sun does not always shine and wind does not always blow, stationary storage can be one tool to enable renewable breakthrough. There are several forms of storage. One of the opportunities is used batteries. When batteries from electric cars, electric buses and other electric vehicles have reached the end of their useful lifetime, these batteries are exchanged for new ones. The old batteries can still be used for balancing the power grid for years before finally entering recycling phase.

Decentralised energy production and storage can help lower energy consumption and bring energy production closer to consumption, thereby lowering losses.

A Smart city is an urban area that uses different types of electronic Internet of things (IoT) sensors to collect data and then use these data to manage assets and resources efficiently, particularly in terms of energy efficiency.

Smart buildings use the date they generate and automation to provide excellent services for their occupants. With the emergence of vehicle-to-grid-capable electric vehicle chargers and the quickly rising popularity of electric vehicles, a building can save on energy costs by using energy from the battery when electricity prices peak. Another avenue of innovation is to optimise heating and cooling with respect to demand as well as energy prices. Smart buildings with energy production or storage capacities could also participate in providing energy system services.

The future of mobility is electric. Smart mobility is about revolutionising how we get from point A to point B, but it is also about how the electric vehicle connects to the energy system. This needs to be smart in order to avoid peak loads and to avoid overinvesting in strengthening the distribution network to be able to charge all the EVs. In terms of opportunity, new technological solutions like V2G can also be used to participate in the energy system to balance demand and supply and to provide ancillary services.

The home of tomorrow will optimise the energy bill, while using smart appliances to keep the occupants happy. Smart homes will earn money for their owners by becoming decentralised energy production and storage facilities. Buying energy straight from one’s neighbour will become as common as borrowing a cup of sugar.