Hub4FlECs – Scientific Hub for Flexible Energy Communities

Project objective

The objective of the Hub4FlECs project, led by Peter Kepplinger, is to bring together the many technical solutions for the optimal use of flexibilities with the new framework conditions for energy communities and put them into practice. Together with the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland as a cooperation partner, the team at the Energy Research Centre wants to build up the expertise needed to make this leap into practice. The aim is to implement the use of flexibilities in conjunction with the new framework conditions for energy communities. 

Methodologically, the focus is on agent-based systems that can take over the control of flexible consumers such as heat pumps or battery storage systems, using the example of energy communities. Simulations are used to run through different scenarios. Promising approaches are being tested at the laboratory infrastructure of fully digitised buildings at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland, at the Building Technologies Research Centre headed by Christian Heschl.

The project also looks beyond energy communities, as several aggregation and optimisation levels will play a role in the future energy system. Above the potentially nested energy communities are virtual power plants that bundle flexibilities, as well as the higher-level energy market for stabilising the electrical grid. Remaining flexibilities of the energy communities can also be captured in these higher-level layers and thus made available for use by the overall system.

The Hub4FlECs project combines and expands the expertise of the two universities of applied sciences in Vorarlberg and Burgenland and is intended to become the point of contact for research and development projects with industry in the field of flexibilisation of energy communities.

Funding programme

This project is supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).