Space data for improved electric energy consumption and generation modeling
Renewable energy communities, as introduced in Austria in 2021, are a major concept of active participation in energy transition. Individuals are intended to organize locally resp. regionally to consume electric energy in vicinity to production. Through individual participation and local collaboration, energy communities have the potential to decrease energy costs and relieve the Austrian power grid at higher network levels.
As of today, renewable energy communities are however only minor participants in the energy markets:
- They just recently came into existence and have less experience in the energy sector.
- They have less resources for data analysis and optimization than the established electricity suppliers, and
- by now they trade only a marginal share of national consumption.
Abstract
In this project, we use space data from Sentinel and other sources to overcome the systematic drawbacks of energy communities, facilitating their widespread implementation in Austria in the future: We improve spatial and temporal modeling of electric power consumption in Austria, supporting energy communities in finding additional members in vicinity with adequate consumption patterns for optimization.
The next logical step is load management, i.e., the intentional activation/deactivation of load, but such intervention might affect the national power grid, particularly if many energy communities follow the same optimization strategies in the future.
Therefore, we integrate the improved consumption model in an open-source simulation model of the Austrian power grid to assess such optimization strategies for load management, and make them, if necessary, more grid friendly.
Official Project Lead: SBA Research