On 13-14 May 2014 the iPower project held the bi-annual consortium meeting – this time hosted by AAU in their Copenhagen facilities. The focus of the conference was research and development of smart grid in residential buildings
The scientific program of the conference was structured around three main topics:
• iPower in an international perspective
• Innovation in the iPower project
• Perspectives from the viewpoints of the consumer and society
Day 1
The iPower conference addressed society’s need for energy flexibility - now as well as in the future. The ambitious Danish energy-policy targets are that by 2025 wind power must constitute 50% of the electricity consumption, and by 2050 Denmark must be 100% fossil-free. Energinet.dk gave an overview of the development in the need for flexible energy consumption in Denmark due to the development of wind energy.
The conference also touched upon the standards for residential smart grid: Founded in the European MIRABEL project, Aalborg University and TNO has developed methods and standards for grouping blocks of flexible energy consumption into larger, more valuable, chunks of flexibility that are more compatible with energy and ancillary service markets.
The final presentation of day one was given by Rish Ghatikar, Deputy Leader of the Grid Integration Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Rish Ghatikar spoke about a standard that may play a significant role in the future of residential smart grid, the Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) standard.
Day 2
On day two, results from the iPower experimental setups in residential buildings at the Danish Technological Institute in Taastrup and Grundfos’ experimental house in Bjerringbro were detailed. Also, demonstrations of equipment and services developed by the iPower partners GreenWave Reality, Kamstrup, Develco Products, Nilan, ENFOR and DTU were presented.
Economical potential, user experiences and preferences were presented by AAU, COWI and Danish Energy Association.
A significant part of the research in residential building energy flexibility focuses on heating comfort. The afternoon of the 14 May was dedicated to this topic with a special session focusing on the perspective of the building material innovator and producer Saint-Gobain. Based on a keynote from Didier Roux, Vice President, R&D, Saint-Gobain in France, a panel discussion about buildings, heating comfort and energy efficiency & flexibility wrapped up the conference.
Find more information on the iPower website.