A smart energy management system for energy transfers and improved grid efficiency

Project Information

gridBox

Grant agreement ID: 808585

DOI

10.3030/808585

Project closed

EC signature date 8 February 2018

Start date 1 January 2018

End date 30 April 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

GRIDX GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - gridBox (A smart energy management system for energy transfers and improved grid efficiency)

Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2018-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In the current renewable energy industry, a growing trend of buildings and houses are installing renewable energy technologies to help provide electricity for their daily living. There are however numerous challenges that these small-scale renewable energy producers are facing. One of the biggest challenges is that the main technologies used for localised and decentralised energy production are solar or wind energy, which suffer from inconsistent energy production and demand imbalances. This results in energy producers needing to use battery systems to help store surplus electricity.

The gridBox increases the return on investment for renewable technology and lowers the break-even point. This will make renewable energy a more popular investment to make, benefiting society massively by adding a significant amount of renewable electricity to the grid. It will also allow many decentralised renewable energy producers to save a significant amount of money and reduce their overall energy usage.

The overall objectives are to: complete a systematic survey of stakeholders´ requirements, expectations, and needs to define the specifications and features of the final commercial gridBox; a development plan to move the MVP to an industrial prototype; an industrialisation plan for both the pilot trial and commercialisation will be needed; compliance with all necessary regulations; a pilot trial with DRE producers to validate the effectiveness and claims of the solution.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main achievements from the Feasibility Study reported were:
● The renewable markets’ trends show that the growth of renewable technology will continue as many developed countries aim to reach their target goals for 2020, 2030, and 2050;
● The market’s problems and needs aren’t being met by the current solutions, energy transfer systems, or smart meter analytics;
● We found that our business model needed to be changed for improved commercial success. The most beneficial business model to approach the market would be to start generating the majority of our profits from the sale of the gridBox device, but as our solution becomes more mature in the market shift the majority of our profits to come from the energy transfers;
● The new markets we will explore after Germany are the Netherlands, UK, Ireland, France, and Spain. These markets are being targeted not only due to the growing usage of renewable technology and energy systems, but also due to our contacts and strong connections throughout these markets.
● The initial MVP of the gridBox solution was finalised through stakeholder feedback (suppliers, distributors, and customers).
● The necessary regulatory and standard requirements were investigated further which allowed us to develop a better understanding on how to bring the gridBox solution to market. With this we updated the regulations and standards and have contacted a certification company to assist with the securing of necessary regulations.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Most DRE producers are reliant on energy storage systems to store excess energy and deliver renewable energy during non-producing periods. However, energy storage systems often reach their maximum capacity and further energy produced is wasted. These storage systems then fail to provide all the energy required in non-producing periods. BSS with greater storage capacity are being developed but with little success to date (<3% increase in capacity per year). Furthermore gridX provides the first open and manufacturer independent platform/solution for all different types of renewable assets like solar, BSS, and heat pumps. So a maximum integration of all these devices can be realised to optimise energy efficiency and reduce costs. Current energy transfer solutions on the market aren’t able to sell energy to the grid and don’t have the range of features present with gridBox.

Innovation over the state of the art:
1) Connection to the grid allows for sale of excess electricity generated;
2) Smart management of renewable energy produced;
3) Savings from energy analytics of users’ electricity demands.

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