The focus of this project is on integration of a combined transport and electricity system into buildings, starting with the energy micro-grids of Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam (STCA). Here, wind and solar power dominate the electricity production, hydrogen is a key energy carrier, and battery and fuel cell electric vehicles play a key role in energy storage and flexible power production. We perform a techno-economic analysis and provide optimal scheduling for the usage of vehicles to minimize the cost of energy generation as well as to minimize the energy import from external grids.
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ABC Project
In this collection you can find the report and a factsheet about the Amsterdam Builds Coalition project. This project was part of the bigger URSES+ programme. The objectives of the project were to investigate how mental, technological, institutional and organizational barriers impede the realization of a new, sustainable residential area.
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Factsheet Car as Power Plant
“Car as Power Plant” (CaPP) is a project using parked fuel cell cars as power plants. The Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam in Noord will function as a controlled research location.
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Factsheet DISPATCH 2
Metropolitan areas with facilities for large events, such as the ArenA, have an important role to play in the application of intelligent energy systems. They have the potential for efficiency improvements and the integration of renewable energy sources.
The “Distributed Intelligence for Smart Power Routing & Matching 2” (DISPATCH 2) project will explore implemented solutions to verify advanced planning and network management mechanisms to tackle energy management. Verifying such solutions in a realistic test environment helps achieve rapid adoption and use of pioneering energy management solutions. By including large, dynamic energy consumers into this research, the project optimizes for better use in the future energy network.
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Dealing with Uncertainty & Markets in an Urban Environment
The increased use of electric cars and charging stations, but also electricity generation using solar panels, for example, means that new methods need to be developed that make the most efficient use possible of urban electricity networks.
In this project, new models and pricing mechanisms will be developed to factor in variations in distribution networks in urban areas. New methods need to be developed due to the increased use of electric cars, charging stations, and solar panel electricity generation. The goal is to use urban electricity networks efficiently and prevent capacity problems in the network.
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Factsheet Smart Energy Systems in the Amsterdam Area (SMARTEST)
The fast adoption of electric vehicles in the Amsterdam region will cause capacity problems on the grid. To prevent these problems people need to adopt various smart and sustainable energy behaviors. Business models need to be developed that support this.
About the project:
The uptake of electric cars in the Amsterdam area can cause capacity problems for the electricity network. To prevent such problems, people need to make more sustainable use of their vehicles, for example through smart charging and the generation of sustainable energy. The project tests if consumers are more likely to adopt these complementary sustainable energy behaviours if they adopted an electric vehicle for environmental reasons rather than other reasons (e.g., financial), as this will strengthen their environmental self-identity. But what strategies can be employed to strengthen environmental self-identity when environmental reasons did not play a key role in the decision to adopt an electric vehicle?
What do we research:
The main research questions in this project are: How to promote sustainable smart energy systems in the Amsterdam area by promoting complementary sustainable behaviours among people who adopted an electric vehicle for non-environmental reasons? How to develop profitable business models that facilitate sustainable use of electric vehicles?We are testing the crucial role of pro-environmental self-identity, which means that people display more environmentally-friendly behaviour if they consider themselves to be environmentally-friendly. We will test how people who did not purchase an electric vehicle for environmental reasons can be encouraged to adopt environmentally-friendly behaviour by increasing their pro-environmental self-identity. Based on the results, business models will be developed to stimulate such behaviour.
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Future-Proof Flexible Car Charging
Renewable energy systems and electric vehicles belong to the future vision of Amsterdam. Infrastructure upgrades alone cannot solve expected limits, so charging algorithms can help with flexible supply and demands to make these systems future proof.
Metropolitan areas like Amsterdam are transitioning to solar and wind energy where electric vehicles contribute to improving the quality of life. Car batteries have tremendously improved and can be sufficiently charged within a matter of a few hours. Charging these electric vehicles spontaneously has the potential to support this energy transition, yet at the same time, the flexibility makes the planning of energy supply more complex. Ideally, flexible charging needs coincide with periods of abundant sun and wind when electricity prices are lower. These times of need and periods of high energy supply tend to be unpredictable.
Until recently, the energy constraints were addressed by upgrading the congested nodes of the infrastructure i.e. upgrade transformers, which may disrupt the flow of traffic temporarily. Such upgrades are also expensive and a civic nuisance and perhaps they are not even necessary.
Looking ahead into the future, some areas in Amsterdam could face frequent blackouts once 10% of the households charge their electric car at home, because fully charging an electric car requires approximately as much energy as the average household uses in 2-3 days. Currently, less than 2% of Amsterdam’s cars are electric and it is estimated to take another 5-10 years until this 10% limit is reached.
A new solution approach idea
Amsterdam’s distribution network operator Alliander is set to address this problem with Jedlix, a Dutch car charging company, and a research team of TU Delft combining expertise in electrical engineering, policy and management, mathematics and computer science. The goal is to identify new methods in automatic scheduling of car charging. These new methods would thus preempt the infrastructural limits. A few companies, i.e. aggregators, already apply this flexible approach for charging electric cars when wind is abundant and the cost of energy is low. This can be further optimized for each car separately by scheduling similar charging schedules for all cars.As a result, a complex puzzle presents itself that must involve all parties in a given neighborhood to be solved.
URSES+ Projects
This project “Future-Proof Flexible Charging: Dealing With Uncertain Prices & Network Constraints” (URSES+ FFP) is one of 8 research projects in which AMS Institute explores uncertainties in smart energy systems. A complete list of research projects can be found here.
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Factsheet Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage Smart Grids+
Aquifer thermal energy systems optimizes the use of underground space in areas with a high concentration of buildings. This URSES+ project examines how adjacent aquifer thermal energy systems can organize the use of the sub-surface by coordinating with one another to save energy as well. Aquifer thermal energy systems make use of space under the ground. In areas with high concentrations of buildings, it is important to make optimum use of the space beneath these buildings, so that they can save energy using aquifer thermal energy. This project examines how neighbouring aquifer thermal energy systems can organise the use of the sub-surface themselves, by communicating and coordinating with each other. In this research project, TU Delft and its partners will implement self-organising aquifer thermal energy systems, Museumplein is used as a test site.