#Smart grids
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Wat in oktober 2020 begon als een urgent probleem – in het gebied waar Schiphol Trade Park in ontwikkeling was was geen extra transportcapaciteit meer mogelijk en de geplande bouw en uitbreiding moest noodgedwongen stoppen – is inmiddels opgelost. Onze baanbrekende virtuele netoplossing is daar nu namelijk ruim twee jaar in werking, en met succes: de bedrijven op Schiphol Trade Park zijn operationeel, breiden uit, en elektrificeren ondanks de netcongestie in het gebied.

Congestie op Schiphol Trade Park

Een blik op de congestiekaart maakt duidelijk dat Schiphol Trade Park in een door congestie grotendeels op slot gezet gebied ligt. Op het middenspanningsnet is geen extra capaciteit beschikbaar voor het transporteren van elektriciteit. Dat betekent dat er niet meer ontwikkeld wordt: een bedrijf krijgt namelijk wel een aansluiting, maar geen transportcapaciteit. Dit is niet alleen een probleem voor de bedrijven die zich hier willen vestigen, maar ook voor gebiedsontwikkelaar SADC (Schiphol Area Development Company), dat in 2020 nog de ambitie had om het meest duurzame business park van Europa te worden (en in 2023 door de BREEAM-NL Outstanding certificering zelfs het meest duurzame logistieke business park van de wereld is!). De ontwikkelaar wilde voorkomen dat bedrijven afzonderlijk een eigen oplossing zochten en er een wildgroei aan gasgeneratoren met de daarbij behorende uitstoot zou ontstaan. SADC zag dat dit slimmer, goedkoper en duurzamer kon, door op een innovatieve manier partijen te verbinden en te laten samenwerken. Bedrijven kunnen daardoor bouwen, uitbreiden en elektrificeren. Over de aanloop naar het project lees je meer op onze projectpagina.

Een doorbraak: de virtuele netoplossing

Alle bij de coöperatie aangesloten bedrijven delen hun eigen transportcapaciteit met elkaar. Zo maken ze slim gebruik van de gereserveerde ruimte. STELLAR Grid Management leest continu de slimme meters uit en stuurt de energiesystemen (zoals zonnepanelen, energie-opslag, en generatoren) achter de meter aan. Bovendien zorgen we voor de financiële afhandeling van deze aansturing, zodat de deelnemende bedrijven elkaar compenseren voor gebruikte elektriciteit en voor het beschikbaar stellen van hun stuurbare energiesystemen.

De resultaten van een jaar virtueel net

Het virtuele net is twee jaar actief. In het eerste jaar sloten zich nog gefaseerd bedrijven aan bij het collectief. De resultaten van dat jaar zijn voorspoedig, maar niet helemaal volledig.

Nu we een tijdje bezig zijn, delen we met vertrouwen onze resultaten. Voor deze resultaten keken we naar 2023. Zo nemen we dus alle seizoenen en bijbehorende energievraag mee in deze analyse.

Het collectief wordt goed benut: in 2023 is 2.104 MWh aan elektriciteitslevering extra mogelijk gemaakt door het delen van de capaciteit binnen het virtuele net. Zonder deze slimme oplossing hadden heel veel stuurbare energiesystemen, zoals batterijen en generatoren, deze elektriciteit moeten leveren. In het collectief nemen in totaal zeven bedrijven deel die weinig of geen netcapaciteit hebben. Dankzij deze slimme oplossing kunnen de bedrijven gebruikmaken van de beschikbare ruimte en opwek van de buren.

Om zeker te zijn van voldoende elektriciteit binnen de gestelde limieten hebben meerdere bedrijven geïnvesteerd in batterijen en gas- en dieselgeneratoren. Het collectief gebruikt die middelen als er een tekort aan capaciteit is. De generatoren dienen vooral als achtervang. Voordat STELLAR deze aanstuurt, bepaalt het systeem of de aangesloten batterijen kunnen voorzien in het verwachte moment van schaarste. Als de batterij niet voldoende is, schakelt STELLAR automatisch een generator in. In heel 2023 is ertwee keer een generator ingezet om binnen de netlimiet te blijven, voor in totaal 2 uur. Toen de generatoren aangingen waren de batterijen nog niet operationeel, anders waren die generatoren waarschijnlijk niet nodig geweest.

Zonder virtueel net hadden deze partijen moeten investeren in elk een eigen generator (en eventuele back-up generator). Die generatoren hadden gezamenlijk tot 31.000 draaiuren gemaakt. Dat is gelukkig voorkomen. Er is hiermee voor 468.000 m3 minder gas verbruikt, en daardoor is er lokaal 842 ton CO2 minder uitgestoten door generatoren.

Het virtuele net is dus een solide oplossing voor congestiegebieden. Dankzij de slimme aansturing zijn zeven bedrijven operationeel die zonder de virtuele netoplossing hadden moeten uitwijken naar een andere locatie in Nederland of daarbuiten,terwijl een aantal van hen al aan het bouwen was. En er is een enorme hoeveel CO2-uitstoot voorkomen.

De toekomst van Grid Management

We zijn trots op ons virtuele net bij Schiphol Trade Park. We horen ook een enorme urgentie in de markt: veel partijen worstelen met netcongestie en zoeken naar een vergelijkbare oplossing. Maar de toekomst van Grid Management is niet hapklaar. Het project bij Schiphol Trade Park is een pilot, en de voorwaarden van een standaard contractvorm voor een dergelijke collectieve oplossing (groeps-transportovereenkomst) zijn nog niet definitief vastgesteld.

Niet alleen bij Schiphol

Schiphol Trade Park is zeker niet de enige plek in Nederland waar sprake is van congestie. Eerder dit jaar lanceerden we onze oplossing bijvoorbeeld ook in het Zwolse Hessenpoort. Heb jij ook last van congestie? We denken graag met je mee. Neem contact met ons op.

Following the Data Dilemmas event in October, which focused on underground infrastructure, this deep dive session delved further into the question: How can we look under the ground without digging? The session began with an introduction by Alliander, followed by additional insights from Port of Amsterdam, Eurofiber, City of Amsterdam, and Stedin. After exploring the issue, various parties pitched their solutions.

The problem of Alliander

Alliander is anticipating a significant workload in the next 2-10 years, requiring a lot of resources (personnel, materials, and services). We are transitioning away from gas, which means that many gas connections have to be removed. Currently, Alliander is removing around 12,000 connections per year, this is expected to increase to around 100,000 in 2030.

The primary challenge in the removal process is locating the gas line. Due to missing or outdated drawings, ground subsidence, or discrepancies between installation and location, they are often difficult to locate. This leads to time-consuming and costly excavation and often excavation damage.

Alliander employs several search methods to locate the gas lines:

• Probe: This is a probe that can be entered via the main gas valve, with a transmitter so that you can trace it from the outside.
• Gas camera:  Attached to the probe to see where the gas connections are.
• Ground penetrating radar (GPR): Sonar scan of the ground.
• Chenny: Similar to probe.
• Frequency on metal tubes: For metal pipes, you can set a frequency on the pipe that can be detected.
• Ultra-sonic: By putting a sound signal on the pipe you can register the vibrating gas molecules with a microphone.

These techniques are not always sufficient and come with many drawbacks. This is why Alliander is seeking a better way for technicians to know where to dig without opening the ground.

Additional Insights

Additional insights from various stakeholders highlight common challenges related to underground infrastructure. The main problem is that the data of the underground is not the same as the real-time situation. This leads to scanning methods being necessary in the first place.
The data which is documented is also lacking because it doesn’t show things such as ground pollution, and the z-coordinate (depth) is also missing. There is potential for improvement since most parties have better databases of their own assets. This data is unfortunately not shared since it is not required by KLIC (Information and Coordination Center for Underground Infrastructure).

Solution Pitches

1. SpectroAG – Hamed Mehdipoor: Combines GPR, electromagnetic wave emission, robots, and drones to scan large ground areas in high resolution. The data is analyzed by an AI Brain Cloud, providing a 3D representation of asset locations. Challenges may arise in areas with clay ground, since this is always a problem with GPR.

2. Inframent – Marina Kurnevich: A startup addressing asset registration issues. Their solution involves taking photos of open trenches with a smartphone or tablet, instantly uploading them to their application, and adding location data. This ensures immediate and accurate registration of underground data.

3. Infratags – Henk Schwietert (Evalan): Their passive (no battery) RFID tags (Infratags) can be attached to cables and connection sleeves, allowing easy identification above ground using a scanner. The low-cost tags, around 50 cents each, can easily help find tagged assets. However, challenges include conflicting interests and delayed returns on investment. The Infratag was developed in collaboration with Tallo.

4. HvA Sensorlab - Marcel van der Horst: While not offering a direct solution, HvA Sensorlab has students capable of working on the problem. They have access to advanced equipment for developing or improving solutions.

5. VLabs – Diemer Cohen Stuart: Uses GIS data and Augmented Reality (AR) to visualize accurate geodata through AR glasses. This simplifies operational work, improves quality control, and allows for on-site guidance with work instructions. The glasses provide 5-10 cm accuracy, with a cost of 8500 euros per pair.

Are you interested in any of these solutions, would you like more information, or do you have an even better solution? Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Noor – noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com, or leave a comment below. We will continue with this topic in 2024!

Spectral, a pioneer in the integration of energy and information technologies and a highly impactful scale-up in the energy sphere, is excited to announce a major turning point in its expansion. Spectral has successfully secured an investment from ABN AMRO’s Sustainable Impact Fund (SIF). The fund invests in impact-driven companies seeking both social and financial returns. The investment will primarily be used to scale and professionalize operations.

When thinking about the decarbonization of cities, Local Energy Systems (LES) are often mentioned as one of the key enablers in the future. While there is agreement that LES have a role to play in the energy system of the future, what exactly is this role and how do we scale up implementation of this solution?

Cities are a major source of GHG emissions, with UN estimates suggesting that cities are responsible for ~75% of global emissions, mainly by means of transport and energy use in buildings. The decarbonization of buildings within urban areas can prove especially difficult, as space is limited, issues like grid congestion delay further electrification and there are a lot of stakeholders involved.

LES can be a solution in the decarbonisation of buildings in urban areas, like residential spaces, business parks and hybrid areas, creating positive energy districts that simultaneously reduce their impact on the grid.  Preliminary LES pilot programs indicate that a LES can support decarbonization by integrating renewable generation and efficiently using energy by decreasing energy losses due to smart grids, communal energy management systems and by combining generation and use as locally as possible. We are however still in the early stages of building and growing LES around the globe, which is why we are focused on getting the right stakeholders together and learning about the requirements for scaling up such systems.

## Case & Set-up of the Session

During the latest Transition Day we hosted a work session on the topic of LES. In the past months, a number of partners in the Amsterdam Smart City network have expressed interest in the topic and would like to work together on the topic. Simultaneously the HvA, who is working on the ATELIER project with the aim to create Positive Energy Districts (PEDs), developed a framework to structurally categorize the various aspects involved in implemeting a LES. During the Demo Day, we considered two topics related to LES The first was a the framework created by the HvA, with the intention of capturing feedback and validating the approach.  Secondly, we considered how we can move from an informal network around LES, to a structural coalition that can scale up the concept.

## Insights

A framework for structurally capturing aspects of a LES

Omar Shafqat from the HvA / ATELIer project presented their framework for structurally capturing and monitoring aspects of LES. The framework categorizes various aspects into policy, market, technical and social considerations (from top to bottom). Next to that, it divides these aspects on a timeline along a planning horizon from longer term (planning) to shorter term (management). The framework is shown below in this image.

In response to the framework, the participants shared some the following feedback:
-        Testing the framework is necessary to validate and improve it. This implies an inventorization of LES projects and working through a few specific cases to check how the framework can be applied, and how it can benefit project managers/owners.
-        The framework should also be presented and validated by other key stakeholders such as Amsterdam’s “Task Force Congestion Management”.
-        Participants raised the question of who exactly will use the framework, and how? Is this intended as an instrument to be used primarily by academics, and researchers, or also by practitioners?

Forming a coalition on the advancement of LES

The second part of the work session was moderated by Joost Schouten from Royal Haskoning DHV, who led the discussion on the need for building a coalition around LES. He argued that the further development of LES requires an ecosystem approach, since multiple parties with different interests are involved, but there is no clear ‘owner’ of the problem.

A ‘coalition of the willing’ could help to advance the development of LES. A discussion in breakouts led to the following insights:
-        A coalition should be formed by the community itself, but it requires a party that coordinates during the kick-off phase. A discussion emerged around whose role should be to take on the coordination phase. Some participants were of the view that this should be led by a governmental party, others thought this should be organised by a network party like Amsterdam Smart City.
-        To effectively build a coalition, the involved parties need to be interdependent. To make sure that it is clear that the parties in a LES are interdependent, the parties need to state their interests in developing a LES, to determine whether there is a common goal.
-        Even when these interests are not fully aligned, communication between parties can help bridge gaps. Discussion leads to understanding and empathy.
-        An ambassador can be a vital enabler in the beginning of building a coalition, as a clear face and point of contact for such a group.
-        There are already many other communities and coalitions working on topics related to LES, including but not limited to 02025, New Amsterdam Climate platform, TET-ORAM, TopSector Energie, among others.  A key question is whether a new coalition is necessary, or whether it should be possible to join forces with an existing coalition / initiative.

## Conclusions and next steps

Many work session participants indicated support and interest to further contribute to the development of the LES project. The HvA framework was viewed as a useful tool to capture learnings from LES projects to facilitate scaling up. Additionally, the question of how to facilitate collaboration and coalition forming requires further attention. There are many parties involved in the development of LES, and they don’t always have the same interests. However, this is not an issue that any party can ‘own’ or ‘solve’ on its own. It requires an ecosystem approach, which is something that will need to be further detailed.

For now, we will simultaneously work on further building the coalition and looking for LES projects that can be used to test and further develop the framework. If you would like to know more or get involved in the project, for example by contributing you own LES to be tested by the framework itself, let me know via noor@amsterdamsmartycity.com.

This challenge was introduced in the Amsterdam Smart City network by Lennart Zwols from gemeente Amsterdam and Omar Shafqat (HvA). The session was prepared with and moderated by Joost Schouten from Royal HaskoningDHV. Do you have any questions or input for us? Contact me via noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com or leave a comment below. Would you like to know more about the LES challenge? You can find the overview of the challenge with the reports of all the sessions here.

Op 31 oktober organiseren FAN en TKI Urban Energy de tweede fysieke netwerkbijeenkomst van de Smart Energy Community, in het testlab van ElaadNL, Arnhem, met als onderwerp:
 
Domotica en Home Energy Management Systems in de praktijk
 
Eindgebruikers aan het woord
Hoe weerbarstig is de praktijk? Sommige eindgebruikers zijn zelf al aan de slag gegaan met domotica om hun energiegebruik slim aan te sturen. Wij laten drie van deze enthousiastelingen aan het woord: Jan Kerdel, Michiel Damoiseaux & Harm van den Brink. Wat zijn hun ervaringen? Waar liepen ze tegenaan?
 
Setting the scene: HEMS & Domotica
Jasmijn Kleij van TKI Urban Energy gaat in op de vraag of Domotica ook kansen op voor slim energiemanagement biedt, of dat het nu nog vooral een oplossing voor de enthousiaste knutselaars.
 
Praktische lessen uit Belgie
Giovanni Oorthuizen van Xemex zal een presentatie geven over de nieuwe wet- en regelgeving in België, hoe zij daarop inspelen met energiediensten, en hun ervaringen met eindgebruikers.
 
En verder
* Paneldiscussie over Domotica, energiemanagement en de rol van de eindgebruiker
* Speeddaten & netwerken
 
Aanmelden
https://www.aanmelder.nl/smartenergyday/subscribe
 
Volledige programma ochtendsessie:
https://www.aanmelder.nl/smartenergyday/wiki/924116/ochtendprogramma
 
Volledige programma middagsessie: 'Smart Energy Day 2.0', georganiseerd door TKI Urban Energy, Dutch Power, Connectr, RVO en ElaadNL
https://www.aanmelder.nl/smartenergyday/part_program

Thursday, the 30th of August, we had the first follow-up session about Local Energy Systems (LES) since the Transition day session in June. Over the summer Omar Shafqat (HvA, ATELIER), dr. Renée Heller (HvA), and Lennart Zwols (municipality of Amsterdam), have worked on finding a solution to the barriers to scaling up LES. They focused on the barrier of sharing information and learnings of LES projects. In this session, Omar presented a framework that could help overcome this barrier.

A barrier to scaling up LES: Lack of knowledge
In the previous session, we discussed how the difficulty with starting a new LES project is often that the information on how to do this is not readily available. Many pilots have been done, or are still ongoing, and there are definitely reports on the learnings of these pilots. Unfortunately, these learnings are not always available to everyone, and if they are, quite difficult to find and aggregate.
Lennart therefore proposed to make a framework in which we can gather all the information on LES pilots and projects, so we have a central place for the collecting and sharing of information. Omar and Renée have created this framework, which Omar presented in this session. The framework has three objectives:

1.     Collecting the learnings of the pilots in one place.
2.     Defining the gaps in our knowledge.
3.     Creating a starting point for people who want to create their own LES.

Definition of a Local Energy System
To properly create a framework in which various information of relevant LES projects can be collected, it was necessary to have a good definition of a LES. Omar presented the definition as follows:
A local energy system is an interactive, non-linear system that must contain:

• Local generation
• Controllable demand
• Storage
• Energy Management Systems
• Energy communities

IMAGE DEFINITION LES

Hans Roeland Polman (AMS) commented that he was missing the infrastructure in this definition. Omar clarified that the lines between these five entities symbolize the infrastructure and that it is indeed an important component of LESs.
When we speak of LES it is always a balancing act. Different stakeholders have different objectives for implementing a LES, maximizing renewables, minimizing costs, flexibility/congestion, grid dependence, etc. This implies that the aspects of a LES are of differing importance to stakeholders, which is important to take into account with information gathering and sharing.

The first version of the framework for collecting information
After discussing the definition of LES, we dived into the framework. The goal of this framework is to have one format in which we collect information and learnings from all the LES pilots and projects (starting with the ones in our own network). This will allow us to speak a common language, easily compare projects, identify stakeholders and their interests, see where the knowledge gaps are, and more easily find specific information about LES.

Note: This framework is not the interface for the end-user. The framework should be used to catalogue information and learnings so that we have the information on all the different projects in the same format. We can then use this to build a user interface that end-users can interact with. How to best do this is still a topic of discussion.
The framework is presented below. On the x-axis, you can see the time scale. On the left you have the long-term (planning) phase, and on the right the short-term (management) phase.

On the left side, you can see the four areas in which the framework is divided:

• Policy
• Energy markets
• Energy systems
• Community/user aspects

The colour-coded third dimensions show which blocks relate to certain topics of interest, and should have information added on this topic. The topics of interest that have been added now are:

• Congestion
• Energy balance

It might be interesting to add others as well.

IMAGE LES FRAMEWORK

It was suggested by the group that electricity/heating might also be an interesting topic to add. Hans (AMS) also suggested that it would be interesting to add information about local infrastructure, such as a local heat network.

Discussion and questions
After the presentation of the framework a discussion followed. Many questions were raised which require further examination. A few of the key questions were:

• What should the scope be of this framework? Are we just looking at our own region, or do we want it to be used on a much larger scale?
• How do we connect to the other organizations and projects to this framework, and refrain from doing double work?
• Who is the owner of this framework and will keep it up to date?
• To make this framework usable for project managers, it should have a clear template that can be filled in. Who is going to make this, and how do we ensure that project managers of LES projects fill this in?

Next steps and call to action:
There are still many questions that need to be answered, and we will continue the research and learn by doing. We will start with the ATELIER and the LIFE project, to see if we can put them into this framework. This will be done by Omar (HvA, ATELIER), and Hans (AMS, LIFE). They will also create the first version of a template in which the information can be collected so that project managers can fill out this information. This will then be tested with the project managers of the LIFE project to see if the template and framework are indeed workable.

This will give a good starting point to see if the framework is suitable for the collection of information and learnings of LES projects. However, it will be far from complete. The ATELIER and LIFE projects don’t contain all the topics to properly test the framework and create templates for everything. We therefore need more partners with LES projects that can help test and develop this framework.

So if you are working on a Local Energy System project, and you would like to help further develop the framework, by giving feedback on the framework itself or using your project to validate the effectiveness of the framework, please let us know.

KNX and FLEXCON2023 are hosting an in-depth KNX IoT development workshop. Are you a developer who wants to build Smart Energy applications? Bring your RPi’s and other Linux devices and come to Les Brigittines in Brussels on September 20th ! Connect heatpumps, EV's, Solar systems, smart meters, sensors, batteries etc to the smartgrid

In this workshop, you will get to understand the KNX IoT development approach. You will get your hands om a state-of-the-art test bench, equipped with a virtual KNX installation featuring actuators with load control and real-time current detection, providing instant power consumption insights.

The workshop is free of charge. We have only 8 spots available, so apply now! For more information and subscription to the KNX IoT workshop on September 20th:
https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7460981/FLEXCON-2023-KNX-IoT-Workshop

For information on the #FLEXCON2023 event:
https://flexcon.energy

Welke investeringen zijn nodig voor de transitie naar de slimme, groene, gezonde Metropool van Morgen? Onderzoeksbureau Birch bracht het in kaart, in opdracht van de Metropoolregio Amsterdam en Amsterdam Economic Board.

Het rapport van Birch inventariseert de ambities en plannen van regionale kennisinstellingen, bedrijven, maatschappelijke organisaties en overheden. En analyseert welke belangrijke vervolgstappen de regio nog moet nemen. Door voort te bouwen op de aanbevelingen hopen we de mogelijkheid tot investeren in de hele metropool te vergroten.

De focus ligt daarbij op transitie-thema's binnen digitalisering en duurzaamheid:
⦿ Gezondheid en preventie
⦿ Veilig datadelen
⦿ Artificial Intelligence
⦿ Duurzame digitale infrastructuur
⦿ Biobased en modulair bouwen
⦿ Slimme mobiliteit
⦿ Waterstof
⦿ Slimme energiesystemen

Ben jij met jouw organisatie betrokken bij een van die thema's? Lees het artikel en neem contact op om mee te denken over investeringsmogelijkheden.

Energetic for energy

The technology is here. People and organizations are there. We have a lot of learnings from innovation pilots like Live and Atelier: we're all set. And yet, scaling up local energy systems like Live and Atelier seems to be incredibly difficult. What are the obstacles and barriers to scaling up these initiatives? These questions were the focus of the working session "local energy systems, scale up, scale up, scale up”.   The partners unanimously recognized the issue of scaling up as it affected all of them, and enthousiastically engaged in the work session.

Barrieres for upscaling

Together we searched for the actual challenges where local energy systems can be a solution, and the barriers for upscaling. We looked at the first actionable follow-up steps to achieve the required upscaling.

We chose a <em>chair battle</em> as work format and had an open and honest conversation about the challenges we face. It was fascinating to see that sometimes the different stakeholders, despite having the same goal, cannot come to an agreement and this can lead to considerable frustration.   

What we learned?

A lot! The picture report says more than a thousand words, but  in short:
·      We can only solve this challenge together; and that’s difficult
·      Citizens and companies often do not know where to go and often do not know the existing possibilities
·      We have the same goal, but there are many different interests
·      The solutions are already there

And now?

We will continue the topic with great energy in the coming period and try to set up a fixed program structure to keep the development up to speed. 

Do you want to know more about this challenge? Please let me know. patricia@amsterdamsmartcity.com

To mitigate climate changes and reduce CO2 emissions, the transition of the current energy system to a more sustainable and decentralized one is needed. In Amsterdam, the Buiksloterham demonstration project from ATELIER is paving the way for this transition. Buiksloterham is a Positive Energy District (PEDs) in practise, in which a local smart energy system and P2P trading governed by a citizen’s energy cooperation is implemented. The ambition of ATELIER/Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences is to research how to upscale and replicate this PED. For the Demo Day on the 16th of May, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences asked the Amsterdam Smart City network to discuss how we can learn from the Buiksloterham project to support replication and upscaling. Read through the most valuable outtakes from this session below.

What learnings to focus on?

Starting off, the participants pointed out that it would be most important to learn which choices have been made and why. Therefore, we need to keep track of these decisions and their outcomes. It was suggested to write down all the arguments for the choices made and create a matrix that shows what works or doesn’t work.

It would also be useful to make an impact assessment that shows how much CO2 and electricity is being saved a year. Another great source of information would be around collaboration, specifically with the network operator for example. How did the connection of the PED to the grid go and what learnings are to be gained from that collaboration wise?

Drivers for community involvement

Gathering the insights around community involvement would also be helpful. Danijela and Renée, from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, explained how it has been difficult to get the community involved in the project. Based on the experience of the worksession participants, we concluded this is an issue in other local energy system projects as well. It would be great to investigate why this is the case and what the residents need/desire.

The participants suggest looking at the project from the (possible) resident’s point of view; Why would I want to live in a PED building? What’s in it for the residents?
There is a lot of focus on getting people on board with economic benefits, but is that actually what people want? This could also be connected to comprehensive wellbeing. What else can people benefit from by living in a PED and/or being involved in the community?

Local CO2 reduction vs national grid relief

The issue of getting people on board by promising lower energy costs brings up another question; Is this way of trading energy beneficial for the energy grid capacity? How would it work if we would all start trading energy?

A battery can be very useful for an energy community, for example. But batteries can actually put more load on the energy grid than needed and are therefore not always desirable when you look at it from the municipalities point of view. Local solutions for CO2 reduction and/or economic benefit could burden the national grid.

It is important to keep this in mind when creating the targets for a local energy system. In order to scale up the ATELIER project, it is therefore key to not only maximise economic value but also include other values. If the main focus is on creating economic benefit in order the gain the interest of the community, it is important to keep the effects on the national grid in mind.

New energy law

Finalizing the discussion, we shortly discussed the new energy law. This law says that you cannot own your own grid. Only the network operator can be the owner at the moment. This creates less flexibility and possibility since these network operators are obliged to provide a high certainty for the availability of electricity. The group suggested that the learnings from ATELIER might be helpful in influencing the change of this energy law. This would create more grid connection flexibility which would contribute to upscaling.

The discussion and collaboration around local energy systems and energy communities will be continued in the Amsterdam Smart City “Local energy systems” challenge. This article is written by Jessica van der Plas, former Programme Manager Energy & Circularity at Amsterdam Smart City.

From mid-june 2023, Noor Veenhoven joined the team as our new Programme Manager Energy & Circular. Want to know more about the local energy systems challenge? Reach out to Noor via noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com or leave a comment below!

Unfortunately, there is no single way for remotely controlling new heat pumps yet, nor is there a trend in that direction, according to the 'Flexmonitor Heat pumps' report. This hampers the possibilities of easily and quickly deploying heatpumps for a reliable electricity supply and creates unnecessary costs and complexity to use energy management systems.

Fortunately, the vast majority of heat pumps do support smart energy services. FAN and TKI Urban Energy therefore aim to use one standard for all energy management applications so that 80% of the market volume uses the same open energy management standard by the end of 2024.

We really need to work towards standardisation for the large-scale deployment of energy management for heat pumps, is the appeal of the FAN foundation.

Want to learn more? Read more about it and download the flexmonitor report here:

Op 21 maart zijn we als City Net Zero feestelijk gelanceerd op de Knowledge Mile in Amsterdam. Lees hier een impressie terug over de dag en kom graag met ons in contact voor samenwerking!
Lees hier over de kick-off

Op 15 december 2022 organiseren FAN, ElaadNL en TKI Urban Energy een mini-symposium rondom energiemanagement in en om de woning. Wij nodigen jullie van harte uit om dit event bij te wonen.

De opkomst van all-electric woningen en elektrische voertuigen (EV’s) leidt tot een forse stijging van de stroomvraag in woonwijken. Daarnaast zien we steeds meer duurzame opwek door zonne- en windenergie. Met deze energietransitie komt het elektriciteitssysteem langzaam maar zeker onder druk te staan: de vraag naar elektriciteit stijgt. Bovendien komt deze vraag niet verspreid over de dag, maar ontstaan op bepaalde momenten grote pieken; bijvoorbeeld als men allemaal rond etenstijd de elektrische auto inplugt na een werkdag. Ook overlapt de vraag naar elektriciteit vaak niet met de opwek van duurzame energie.

Home Energy Management gaat een rol spelen om balans te brengen in vraag en aanbod van elektriciteit, om overbelasting van het elektriciteitsnet te voorkomen en de opwek en gebruik van duurzame energie beter op elkaar af te stemmen: het flexibel aansturen van apparaten in en om de woning maakt het mogelijk om een deel van de vraag en het aanbod naar elektriciteit te veranderen, te verschuiven of uit te spreiden in de tijd.

Het uitgangspunt is dat digitale oplossingen en nieuwe slimme energiediensten de consument gaan helpen, dit kan door het gebruik van een Home Energy Management System (HEMS) die energieverbruik kan afstemmen op de beschikbaarheid van zelf opgewekte energie of voordelige energieprijzen.

Om de inzet van energiemanagement in en om de woning te versnellen en in goede banen te leiden is een goede samenwerking nodig tussen bedrijven uit de energiesector, installateurs, energie-coöperaties en leveranciers van gebouwsystemen, en de eigenaren en gebruikers van gebouwen. Dit onderzoek biedt inzicht wat er nodig is om energiemanagement in en om de woning verder op te schalen en hoe dit bereikt kan worden.

Je bent van harte uitgenodigd om dit mini symposium bij te wonen. We zien je graag op 15 december in het Testlab van ElaadNL in Arnhem, of ‘digitaal’ in het webinar.

Join our speed date and engage with 3 great speakers at the first in-person Smart Energy Community meetup on October 11th!

Topics Smart Energy Community October 11:
Home Energy Management Systems in practice
Now that we are installing more and more heat pumps and EV chargers in homes, there is more and more need for energy management. How does this work? How to deal with cyber security and what role do protocols play? ElaadNL developed its own showcase house where this is put into practice. Arjan Wargers of Flexiblepower Alliance Network & ElaadNL discusses the lessons learned.

Power pitch ATEPS: Energy and storage
ATEPS develops, builds and supplies systems based on batteries that store energy. Jos Theuns (ATEPS) explains how they make storage of sustainable energy accessible, safe and attractive through smarter management of electrical energy. Due to the modular construction of ATEPS systems, they are suitable for both small and larger customers.

Power pitch withthegrid: Teleport
How do you connect PV, wind, battery, EV chargers and heat pumps without losing your mind in all protocols and without cloud lock-in? Paul Mignot (Withthegrid) discusses their new innovation Teleport. This gives customers maximum insights and control over their assets in minutes.

Speed dating, networking & visit demonstration house
In the second half, connecting with other professionals is central. During these speed dating sessions, you will get to know fellow innovators, share project ideas and explore opportunities for collaboration. There will be ample opportunity for discussion after the meeting. At the same time, you can take a tour of ElaadNL's new demonstration home for smart energy services, where various smart devices are optimised for home energy management.  

Afgelopen dinsdag 23 augustus organiseerde de werkgroep SES een digitale community sessie. Hierbij sprak Naut Loots van de gemeente Amsterdam over hun aanpak op netcongestie en de rol van slimme energieoplossingen hierin. De sessie is hier terug te zien: https://vimeo.com/hendev/ses-adam-23aug22.

Digitale technologie en data zijn essentieel voor de energietransitie. In de energietransitie geldt: geen stroom zonder data. Digitale innovaties bieden uitkomst om vraag en aanbod van elektriciteit in balans te houden, binnen de beschikbare netcapaciteit. Zelf leveren ze ook een stroom van data op.

Tegenover de kansen die digitale technologie en data bieden voor de energietransitie, staan zorgen over bijvoorbeeld de zeggenschap van burgers over hun gegevens, de cyberveiligheid van de energievoorziening en de verdeling van lusten en lasten van een datagedreven energiemarkt.

In het rapport Stroom van data. Energiedata benutten voor een maatschappelijk verantwoorde energietransitie onderzoekt het Rathenau Instituut hoe data gebruikt kunnen worden voor een duurzame energievoorziening. Het rapport bevat een analyse van de concept-Energiewet en de afspraken voor data-uitwisseling die sectorpartijen zelf al maken. Vier case studies illustreren welke kwesties opspelen bij het gebruik van data voor de stroomvoorziening. De cases gaan over burgers die zich verenigen om lokaal energie op te wekken en te gebruiken, een virtuele energiecentrale, een platform voor balanshandhaving op het elektriciteitsnet en een platform om overbelasting op het net te voorkomen.

In de polder in Schagen werken we in een innovatieve samenwerking aan het zonnepark van de toekomst: De Dijken. Dit park heeft niet alleen de nieuwste PV-panelen, maar ook plek voor mobiele batterijen. Dankzij die batterijen en ons Smart Grid Platform maken we hyperefficiënt gebruik van de beschikbare zonne-energie. In het artikel op onze website lees je meer over deze bijzondere samenwerking en onze ambitieuze toekomstplannen.

Op dinsdag 5 juli, organiseerde de werkgroep slimme energie systemen (SES) van de Provincie Noord-Holland, TenneT en Liander een digitale sessie voor de SES community. Hierin vertelde Liander over congestiemanagement 2.0 en gaf de Provincie inzicht in de aankomende subsidieregeling voor SES projecten.
Updates ontvangen van en/of meedoen aan de community? Mail naar cato.bechtold@hiemstraendevries.nl

KNX and FLEXCON2022 are hosting a free KNX Smart Energy & IoT development workshop on June 28, for 15 developers max.

Are you a developer who wants to build Smart Energy applications? Bring your RPi’s and other Linux devices and come to Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam on June 28th !

In this 'mini-hackathon’, you will get to understand the KNX IoT development approach. You will utilize a free client-development solution to interact with the KNX installation to build Energy Management solutions for a cleaner, smarter world. Connect heatpumps, EV's, batteries and solar panels to the smart grid!

The workshop is free of charge. We have only 15 spots available, so apply now! For more information and subscription to the KNX IoT workshop on June 28, check the link:

Het rijk geïllustreerde Kennisdossier Duurzame energie (150 pagina’s) is een compilatie van 75 artikelen en blogposts over de energietransitie. Je kunt het via onderstaande link gratis downloaden.

Het bevat de volgende hoofdstukken:

1.   Feiten om te onthouden
2.   Bronnen van duurzame energie in Nederland
3.   Openstaande keuzen: Vier scenario’s
4.   Hoeveel zonnepanelen passen in Nederland
5.   Energietransitie mogelijk dankzij de zonnecel
6.   Van zonnepaneel naar zonnedak en zonnepan
7.   Zonnepanelen kunnen (bijna) overal liggen
8.   Recycling zonnepanelen: naar de maan en terug
9.   Manieren om netwerkverzwaring te voorkomen
10.  Smart grids: Waar techniek, digitale en sociale innovatie samenkomen
11.  Samenwerken in een energiecoöperatie
12.  Duurzaam maken van je woning: Voor jezelf en de aarde
13.  Naar een rechtvaardige energietransitie
14.  Zonder energieopslag geen energietransitie
15.  Aardwarmte
16.  Biomassa
17.  Verwijderen, opvangen en opslaan van CO2
18.  Kernsplitsing en kernfusie
19.  Waterstof
20.  Onze toekomstige energievoorziening