Germany and the European Union have defined concrete targets for the expansion of renewable energies. A share of at least 50% of primary energy consumption is planned by 2050. These fundamental changes in the generation and provision of electrical energy require a paradigm shift. In future, the load must be increasingly adapted to the increasingly volatile generation situation.
For the overall Smart Grid structure, it is essential to operate energy management across all grid levels by means of intelligent networking in order to maximise security of supply and at the same time keep the expansion requirements of the energy supply grid as low as possible. In future, energy management will also be carried out at household level in so-called smart homes/smart buildings by means of comprehensive data technology networking. Economies of scale and simultaneity factors in the consideration of apartment buildings and neighbourhoods offer particular potential.
Different producers, storage facilities and consumers are considered in several research projects with regard to their ICT connectivity, controllability and synergy effects.
The horizon ranges from aspects such as maximizing own consumption or energy cost reduction as well as further optimisation targets, from control and application scenarios to the coupling of the electricity and heat sectors. The properties and functions of individual components and their compounds are examined. First, they are computer-aided simulated, then analyzed in laboratory environments and finally tested in real-life field tests. Comfort aspects and user behaviour as well as user sensitisation are also taken into account.
