At the beginning of next year, the FlexiGrid project, which started in 2020 and was funded through the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, will end. In the project, new methods have been tested with the aim of adapting and regulating the energy system at Chalmers campus Johanneberg based on Gothenburg's electricity grid needs. Existing infrastructure on campus, such as batteries, heat pumps and solar cells, has been integrated into a modern control system to regulate and adapt use based on power needs, electricity consumption and market data. The control system uses artificial intelligence and has been designed to regulate power loads and optimize energy systems. The goal has been a flexible electricity grid where consumption and production are synchronized in order to be able to cut power peaks and regulate power shortages in society.
The lessons learned have been many and valuable, not least in the context of the transition to more fossil-free energy production. The electrification that is taking place in society also affects the need for a functioning electricity supply, in Gothenburg alone, the power demand is estimated to increase by at least 75 percent in less than ten years.
Unique collaboration with campus as a test bed
In this project, but also thanks to several previous projects, a fine collaboration has developed between the researchers at Chalmers and Akademiska Hus. This has created the conditions for using the entire campus as a test bed.
"Our collaboration with Akademiska Hus is unique. We have been involved in the entire chain of this project, from the development and modelling of new solutions to being able to test on existing infrastructure on campus. My hope is that we will be able to scale our learnings to more campuses around Sweden," says David Steen, researcher in electrical engineering at Chalmers.
In parallel with the project, a completely new marketplace for power flexibility has also been created in Gothenburg. The marketplace is run by Göteborg Energi and thanks to the project, Akademiska Hus was able to become one of their first customers to offer flexibility back to the market. In concrete terms, power trading means that customers temporarily reduce their electricity use or increase their production of electricity to reduce the load on the electricity grid.