Model City Mannheim

Background

At federal level, “E-Energy” was set up as a major funding scheme by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (MMWi) and the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) with the objective of optimising the power supply of the future. Several model projects were initiated to address the key issue of how state-of-the-art information and communication technologies can be used for intelligent regulation of the balance between supply and demand. Only efficient and timely management makes it possible to make better use of the network and to use volatile energy sources which are not constantly available, such as wind or solar energy, in a useful and economic way. Exploring the use of such technologies serves the safety and the environmental compatibility of the entire power supply in Germany.

Additional information: www.e-energie.info

Project objective

The “Model City of Mannheim” project was one of the six sub-projects which won the “E-Energy” technology competition run by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Technology, and was funded by the Federal Environment Ministry.

The project partners, under the leadership of MVV Energie AG, had long been dealing with the issues of decentralised energy generation, demand-based energy management, and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to increase energy efficiency. This experience was reflected in the “Model City of Mannheim” project, in which it was used to develop an energy market place. A series of field tests was conducted in Mannheim and Dresden to test technical feasibility and customer-friendly implementation with over 1,000 customers of the energy providers involved (MVV Energie, DREWAG Stadtwerke Dresden).

ifeu was responsible for the evaluation of the field test carried out during the project. During the initial phase, ifeu also undertook studies in relation to the use of thermal energy storage and incentive systems.

Ifeu also supervised the project newsletter and the project home page, which contains further information about the project:

www.modellstadt-mannheim.de

Project results

The final report (German) (PDF, 3.5 MB) outlines the challenges, processes and results of MOMA. Individual chapters deal with priority research areas such as the technical architecture of MOMA, the practical tests, and the economic and ecological studies.

A summary of the results of the project can also be found in the final presentation (German) (PDF, 3.9 MB).

ifeu was responsible for the evaluation report (PDF, 11.6 MB). The report deals with the main results of the field tests, and also shows the simulations and calculations in relation to network stability, price trends, and ecology. It also contains detailed results of the sub-project in Dresden which focused on district heating.

ifeu completed a partial study in 2009:

Use of thermal storage systems for energy storage (German) (PDF, 4.35 MB).

It investigated and demonstrated the theoretical, technical/economic and achievable potential of refrigeration systems for load relocation in the city of Mannheim.

Pay-to-view article (June 2011): “Load management for refrigeration systems: Potentials and barriers” (English) by Arne Grein and Martin Pehnt investigates how cooling and refrigeration systems can contribute to a temporary adjustment of power requirements to cover fluctuating provision.