The ESCdigital project in Wunsiedel
Pioneering project by dena’s Future Energy Lab investigates the joint use of renewable energies locally. The results of the project are to be used as a guide for implementing energy sharing in Germany.
dena is investigating the practical introduction of energy sharing communities (or ESC for short) in Germany with the launch of the pilot community in Wunsiedel. The aim is to implement a model for energy sharing within the current legal framework together with local partners. An energy sharing community is understood to be a locally cohesive group that generates, consumes and potentially even stores electricity from renewable energy systems in close proximity using the public grid. The practical implementation is organised by SWW Wunsiedel GmbH and its partners from Es-geht! Energiesysteme GmbH and SEtrade GmbH. Exnaton AG software is used for billing and visualising the energy flows within the ESC.
Various producers, consumers, prosumers and energy supply assets are integrated into the ESC in Wunsiedel. The starting point is the producer association WUNergy, which is in the process of being founded and transformed into an ESC. It is essential for the realisation of energy sharing to use digital technologies in order to have an efficient network and coordination among the players involved. The project focuses on the interaction of the required digital infrastructure, including the aggregation platform, community management, energy trading, accounting and billing systems as well as the necessary data exchange between different energy market roles and players. In addition, testing is being performed on how the use of aggregated flexibility positively influences the economic efficiency of the ESC. The scalability of the pilot project will be discussed and weighed up with experts with a view to other structures for energy generation and stakeholder constellations.
The experiences of the pilot community will be incorporated into a guide, enabling it not only to be relevant for the participating municipality, but also to provide valuable insights for the entire energy sector. The guide, which is being compiled under the leadership of IZT – Institut für Zukunftsstudien und Technologiebewertung gGmbH and B.A.U.M Consult Munich/Berlin, will contain recommendations for the framework in Germany, in addition to the technical and economic implementation criteria for energy sharing. To this end, integration into the overall system will be analysed and the effects achieved in the pilot community evaluated.
The central issues surrounding energy sharing will be discussed in the project as part of an expert council. The experts contribute different perspectives from the fields of energy generation and supply, distribution grid operation, community energy, cooperatives, municipal companies, IT and sustainability research. In this manner, they make a decisive contribution to ensuring that different perspectives and current discussions are taken into account in the project.
dena has been carrying out this project on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action since January 2021. A general analysis of the role of digital technologies in energy communities had been performed before the pilot community was designed and developed. The project is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2025.
Please visit https://future-energy-lab.de/projects/energy-sharing-communities/ for further information.
About the Future Energy Lab
With the Future Energy Lab, dena has created a space in which the digital and energy industries convene on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The goal is to test new technologies and regulatory approaches for the electricity, heating and mobility sectors in a think tank and pilot testing laboratory capacity in order to drive the the energy transition forward. The Future Energy Lab serves as a platform for bundling the cooperative efforts of all major industry players and creates a creative space for startups to develop innovative solutions. Please visit https://future-energy-lab.de for further information.
