Living lab XMPL / Snowball

Consortium:: Smappee, Amplifino and Yuso

Budget:: € 2,897,729

Grant:: € 1,291,492

Buildings today account for about 40% of the total energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the European Union. The XMPL living lab consortium at Snowball, aims to reduce this amount. The project is a collaboration between software developer Amplifino, Home Energy Management System developer Smappee, and energy supplier Yuso assisted by Howest and UGent and with the support of Flux50, and VLAIO.

Project

Snowball's pilot is building a brand new and future-oriented energy management system based on artificial intelligence. A variety of new energy technologies has been installed in the pilot. For instance, the Snowball site is cooled and heated with a 300,000-litre ice buffer, there is a 180 kWp solar farm, a 2.5 MWh battery to store surplus solar energy, and an AC and DC charging park for 50 electric vehicles. Snowball is also equipped with a range of IoT sensors, from which 2 million data points are collected daily. These datasets are used to build forecasting models and algorithms.

On this basis, the entire site is monitored and controlled, with no loss of comfort. It has also resulted in significant savings in energy costs. The new energy management system goes one step further and generates revenue by leveraging its flexibility in the energy market. This is an additional incentive for the end user, making the implementation of the state-of-the-art energy management system an obvious choice.

Impact

Today, the consortium is validating and optimising the models. As a demonstration area, Snowball continues to develop, for example through the Interreg ConnectSME project. As a brand new Cleantech hub, Snowball aims to facilitate and promote sustainable entrepreneurship. "Lead by example" is Snowball's adage. The XMPL living lab therefore fits perfectly into this picture.

Take a look here for a more profound explanation of the project during one of the e-Storie-sessions (webinar)

The consortium is building a brand new and future-oriented energy management system based on artificial intelligence on Snowball’s testing ground. On this site, all kinds of new energy techniques are installed. This is how the Snowball site is cooled and heated with a 300,000 litre ice buffer, there is a solar park of 180kWp, a battery of 2.5 MWh to store the surplus of solar energy and an AC- and DC charging square for 50 electric vehicles. Furthermore, Snowball is equipped with a series of IoT sensors, from which 12 million data points are collected daily. These datasets are used to build forecasting models and algorithms.

Based on this, the entire site is checked and controlled without loss of comfort, resulting in significant savings in energy costs. The new energy management system goes even further: it is also a source of revenue by using its flexibility on the energy market. An additional stimulus for the end-user, thus implementing the state-of-the-art energy management system becomes a matter of course. 

Today, the consortium is working hard to validate and optimize the models. A duplicable product must be ready by September 2021. As a brand new Cleantech hub, Snowball wants to facilitate and promote sustainable entrepreneurship. “Lead by example” is Snowball’s adagium. The XMPL testing ground fits perfectly in this picture.