Decision-making and optimization for distributed energy management

Project objectives

The EnergyDec R&D project aims to develop and evaluate an innovative approach to the cross-site optimization of energy management systems (EMS). While conventional EMS have so far been geared toward optimizing individual buildings, the new legal basis provided by the Renewable Energy Expansion Act now makes it possible for the first time to consider multiple sites together. The focus is on making optimal use of renewable energies such as solar and wind power across multiple buildings by incorporating additional parameters such as storage options, weather forecasts, and market management into the control system. The aim is to use distributed decision-making to take local optimizations into account and make cross-location decisions in order to promote efficiency, grid stability, and climate protection in equal measure.

Innovation and system integration

The core innovation of the project consists of developing an integrated approach for local optimization in conjunction with distributed, cross-location decision-making. This approach combines top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer decisions and is implemented in so-called Decision Making Units (DMUs), which support different decision-making mechanisms—deterministic, probabilistic, genetic, or using machine learning methods. This creates a scalable and flexible system that can respond quickly to fluctuations in the supply of renewable energies. The integration is carried out in a practical manner using different building structures, with the results being made available for both existing and future real estate portfolios.

Results and benefits

The key result is a set of proven decision-making and integration profiles for cross-location energy management that cover all relevant levels of interoperability—legal, semantic, syntactic, technical, and operational. Implementation is taking place at pilot locations, including the Federal Real Estate Company (BIG), to demonstrate practical feasibility. The insights gained will be directly incorporated into the expansion of renewable energies in over 2,000 properties, thus making a decisive contribution to the decarbonization of the real estate sector. At the same time, the project will help to relieve and stabilize the public power grid, thereby significantly supporting the achievement of Austria's climate and energy targets.