Local energy systems challenge: How to organize collaboration and knowledge sharing for the creation of local energy systems?

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The climate crisis and current energy prices are stimulating a rapid shift from gas to electricity. This shift is happening quicker than expected and therefore has caused grid congestion.

Optimization of local energy usage, production, and exchange is important for tackling grid congestion. It can also stimulate the usage of sustainable energy resources and lower the costs of energy. However, optimization requires intensive collaboration between local stakeholders. It also requires them to take the common good into account instead of their self-interest.

Properly organizing these types of collaboration on the local level is therefore very challenging. There is a need to create a (as far as possible) standard approach with best practices and collaboration between the government, grid operators and the local communities. This challenge aims to create a collaboration between people working with Lokal Energy Systems (LES), to help them share their knowledge and learnings, and to empower people who want to create a LES of their own.

Project phase

A first version of a framework to share knowledge about LES has been created by Omar Shafqat (HvA, ATELIER) and dr. Renée Heller (HvA).

What is the goal of the project?

The goal of the project is to gather best practises on stimulating and organizing collaboration for the optimalization of local energy systems.

What is the result of the project?

Local energy systems play an important part in the energy transition and in tackling grid congestion. An overview of best practises, case studies and effective collaboration between the required parties will make it easier to support the optimalization of more local energy systems.

Who initiated the project and which organizations are involved?

This challenge was started by Alliander, but has since been taken over by the municipality of Amsterdam and the HvA.

It is not yet clear which partners will continue with the challenge. However, a broad group of Amsterdam Smart City partners have shown interest in this subject.

Next to Alliander, the municpality of Amsterdam, and the HvA, the following partners have shown interest in this challenge and have participated in work sessions:

  • The province of Noord-Holland
  • Port of Amsterdam
  • Amsterdam Economic Board
  • AMS Institute
  • Royal HaskoningDHV
  • Deloitte

What is the next step?

There have been multiple sessions since this challenge was started. The reports of the last two can be found below.
In the last session, Omar presented a framework for gathering the learnings of LES. On demo day (10th of August), we will further explore this framework and put it to use.


2 Comments

Jessica van der Plas's picture
Jessica van der Plas

@Adriaan van Eck We will continue posting updates about the challenge on the platform! The upcoming Data dilemma's event on the 16th of March also focusses on this subject. See you there?

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