RegEnergy
:
- 3 Counties Energy Agency (IE), Brest métropole (FR), Climate Alliance (DE), Flux50 (BE), Ormondo Upgrading (IE), Plymouth City Council (UK), Waterford institute (IE), and Waterschap Rijn en Ijssel (NL),
- Flanders: Ecopower, Flux50, and VUB.
: € 1.49M (Flanders)
: Interreg subsidy: € 897,000 (60%) + co-financing (15% VEKA and 10% Provincie Vlaams-Brabant)
The European InterReg NWE RegEnergy project explores the link between urban energy demand and rural energy generation through renewable energy partnerships. The specific objectives concerning energy storage for the Flemish sub-project, led by Flux50 were:
- The development of a smart micro-grid to implement as a Local Energy Community.
- Establishing a living lab to test micro-grid operations.
- Optimising self-consumption and balance between intermittent PV production and consumption.
- A feasibility study linking a residential district into low-temperature heat grid.
- Setting up contractual agreements between energy producers, consumers, grid operators, authorities, and landowners to support the business case around renewable energy and micro-grid balancing.
Smart Village Lab: A Living Lab in Development
The Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZ Brussel) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) have set up the non-profit organisation Green Energy Park, with the aim of facilitating energy and electromobility research and development. Among other things, it is developing a large-scale living lab where companies, research institutes, and governments work together to co-create solutions related to these societal challenges.
In anticipation of Green Energy Park's large-scale living lab, a smaller scaled living lab has already been built, which is capable of accommodating the initial research needs. This living lab, the Smart Village Lab, includes a distribution cabin with a number of low-voltage channels, around 100kW of PV, energy storage systems, controllable loads, EV chargers, space for additional experiments, and a basic energy management system. The Smart Village Lab was realised by Flux50 and Green Energy Park, through two projects: Interreg NWE RegEnergy and ERDF SMEL-1.
Neighbourhood batteries
Within the RegEnergy project, the first energy storage systems were integrated as an essential part of a micro-grid testbed. The two large storage systems are coupled to a 150KW-400V link and can be deployed in either a grid-connected topology or a microgrid (behind-the-meter arrangement). One system uses 343kWh of NMC modules; the other 385kWh of LFP modules. Both systems are container-based, with thermal conditioning, protection, and monitoring features. One of the systems is based on modular 3-port inverters, making multiple AC and DC channels available and giving additional research opportunities. The typical use cases in which these systems are deployed are: optimisation self-consumption (between PV and charging posts), peak shaving, and manual control in which interaction with PV, EV (fast) charging, and proprietary EMS functions are investigated. In early 2023, technical integration for AFRR services was set up, so that the battery containers can be used to support frequency on the Elia grid in periods when there is less research work.
The living lab supports Flemish and European research and development projects enabling new technologies to be immediately tested and further refined in a real environment to improve quality. Companies that want to test or demonstrate integration with neighbourhood batteries are also welcome.