R2EC – Regional Renewable Energy Cells

This research project has already been completed. You can download the final report of R2EC here.

Decentralized, interacting energy cells

The R2EC project aimed to develop a scalable system for decentralized, interacting energy cells that maximizes the use of renewable energy at local and regional level through intelligent interaction between generation, storage and consumption and optimizes interactions with other energy cells. In addition, system resilience and market participation through aggregation and blockchain use were investigated. The results of R2EC are the implementation and testing of the overall system in a laboratory environment and the testing of individual system components (such as measuring and monitoring devices) in the test regions.

As part of the European research project, decentralized energy cells based on renewable energies were simulated and relevant technologies were tested. Energy cells in Austria, Belgium and Norway were examined. The framework conditions of different countries and climate zones were taken into account. An implementation concept was developed with the help of a simulation model, and the hardware and software required for the system was further developed.

Three model energy regions in Austria

Three model energy regions were selected in Austria to collect real consumption data and research the contribution of regional energy cells to the success of the energy transition.

The aim was to increase the proportion of renewable energy in local energy communities. However, the region should not only be supplied autonomously with local renewables, but also contribute to covering the consumption of other regions. To achieve this objective, greater use had to be made of flexibility and additional flexibility had to be created with the help of storage facilities. This created regions with a balance of up to 100% renewable energy supply.

© JPP ERA-NET SES

This project was funded by partners of the ERA-Net SES 2018 Joint Call RegSys (www.eranet-smartenergysystems.eu), a network of 30 national and regional RTD funding agencies from 23 European countries. As such, this project has been funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 775970.