In the GRID-friends project, a German-Dutch team of researchers has been working since 2016 at two locations to find out how energy cooperatives can best design their energy provision. To this purpose, a settlement of 30 floating buildings with 47 apartments is being created to the north of Amsterdam, which are designed to be as autonomous as possible in terms of their energy consumption.

The “Schoonship” (“clear decks”) buildings form a single energy unit and are designed to produce their own power via solar energy. Heat pumps and batteries for energy storage supplement the supply concept. A grid connection with a comparatively low maximum capacity of 135 kW is intended to ensure that power continues to be supplied even at peak load times and when battery storage systems are empty. The control technology used in the buildings has been developed by the project partner, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics (Fraunhofer-Institut für Techno- und Wirtschaftsmathematik) ITWM. The Amperix® energy management system is a platform for microgrids and energy communities, which permits the flexible control of power and heat storage systems. The heat pumps and charging stations for electric vehicles used in the “Schoonship” are also integrated into the control system. Amperix® permits the optimisation of the load displacement and through peak shaving contributes towards keeping the annual fee for the shared grid connection used by the energy community as low as possible.

Following the placement of the first seven buildings in mid-December 2018 and the installation of the energy management system, the next buildings will follow in the spring of 2019. Then, floating gardens will be created and the roofs of the residential buildings will be planted. The project partners – evohaus GmbH is also involved on the German side – hope to gain important new knowledge, as well as other information, about optimising coordination mechanisms between energy consumers and producers from the evaluation of the data on the energy provision for the “Schoonship”.

From 17-20 June 2019, a delegation of German companies will visit the Netherlands to look for business partners as part of an AHK-trade mission focussing on “Energy efficiency in buildings – solutions for the heat transition”. Interested Dutch companies will have the opportunity to meet Germany companies and find out about what they offer at a conference on 18 June, or in bilateral talks over the following days.