Author: ISOCARP Institute

Positive Energy Champions – Help realise Limerick’s positive energy potential!

Posted on April 1, 2021 by - News

Join a team of Limerick Positive Energy Champions by incorporating Positive Energy Actions into your daily routine for twenty weeks. A small change can have a big impact on your energy consumption, on your carbon footprint and can help create a pathway to Limerick becoming a Positive Energy City by 2050.

 

It can be frustrating and confusing to know what meaningful actions individuals, businesses and communities can take to combat climate change. For this reason, Limerick City and County Council and the +CityxChange team are exploring the development of a structured approach to enable Limerick to become a Positive Energy City by 2050, where individual actions can have a local and cumulative impact and contribute to measurable change.

Join Limerick’s Team of Positive Energy Champions for Twenty Weeks.

Positive Energy Champions full briefing document is available here.

Apply on Limerick City and County Council’s consultation and collaboration platform, My Point.

The closing date for applications is 5 pm Tuesday 6th April. 

If you have any queries regarding the application process, please email cityxchange@limerick.ie.

Climathon 2020, Sestao

Posted on March 3, 2021 by - News

Sestao was the official Climathon organizer for the 2020 event in Sestao.

It also invited to participate in two neighbouring municipalities: Portugalete and Santurtzi. It, therefore, branded the event towards the public as Climathon SPS (SPS standing for Sestao, Portugalete, Santurtzi). An agreement was reached that every year, one of the cities, in a rotatory fashion, would take care of the actual organization, starting with Sestao in 2020.

The work sessions (Ideathones) were held on the 27th of November, 4th of December, and 11th of December 2020, between 10 am and 2 pm. These were all virtual sessions. The teams presented in a virtual session their projects to the jurors, and the jurors selected the winners on December 18th, 2020, between 10 am and 2 pm. This was the final session for the event.

The theme was to come up with innovative ideas/projects that could contribute in a meaningful way towards reducing the CO2 emissions in the 3 municipalities by 50% by the year 2030. Sub-challenges that were presented where: Sustainable mobility, Energy, Construction and Housing, Industry. 

22 people registered, however, 12 ended up participating and completing the whole event. At the very end, 4 groups were formed. 

The winning team proposed a mobile app that allows citizens to introduce their energy consumption, list sustainable practices that they undertake, measure their carbon footprint and see how they are contributing towards helping the city meet its goals of reducing CO2 emissions. A basic, yet functional, version of the app was presented. The runner-up team made a study whereby they identified 15 locations in Santurtzi where PVs could potentially be installed. A two to three-page technical analysis was elaborated for each one and a general presentation was made presenting the opportunity to bring PVs on a grand scale to the city. A third group promoted the use of cycling lanes and safer and more sustainable transportation for school children. The fourth group presented an app that helped organizations coordinate the transportation needs of each worker and find synergies to create, for example, carpooling, etc.

This shared Climathon event was deemed of special importance because it opened up the dialogue for future collaboration between the three cities. 

 

RESPONSE joins the Smart Cities and Communities Lighthouse projects

Posted on February 18, 2021 by - News

A new project has joined the Smart Cities and Communities Lighthouse projects. We want to welcome RESPONSE which aims to establish a strategic vision for Smart Cities Energy Transition: Climate-neutral cities by 2050. Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, RESPONSE is a 60-month project.

RESPONSE aims to turn energy sustainability into a do-able vision by solving the energy trilemma (security, equity/affordability, environmental sustainability) at building, block and district levels in smart cities. The project builds upon intelligent integrated and interconnected energy systems coupled with demand-oriented city infrastructures, governance models and services that foster energy sustainability.

RESPONSE supports the lighthouse cities of Dijon (FR) and Turku (FI) and their Fellow cities Brussels (BE), Zaragoza (ES), Botosani (RO), Ptolemaida (GR), Gabrovo (BU) and Severodonetsk (UA) to facilitate them deliver positive energy blocks and districts. It attracts the interest of various stakeholders by generating innovative business models enabling the upscale and replication of the solutions forming a validated roadmap for sustainable cities across Europe and beyond. The overall focus of the project is to create resilient and safe cities whilst increasing the quality of life and lowering the impacts of climate change. 

The consortium of RESPONSE is led by European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER) Germany, being technically supported by Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, CERTH, Greece, and comprises a total of 53 partners.

Creative ways of collaborating: Smart Písek joins Urbania

Posted on February 4, 2021 by - News

Like many other cities in Europe, Písek has had to rethink how to organize meetings and spaces for collaboration during the times of COVID-19. One of the affected events is the Bold City Vision programme organised by our +CityxChange partner Smart Písek. The programme intended to kick off in the municipal schools in early 2021, piloting The UN Sustainable Development Goals  -related activities for high-schools. Thanks to the resourcefulness of Písek, the programme will now go online as a part of the Urbania exhibition. 

Running from December 2020 to late March 2021, eight original multimedia installations offer visitors the opportunity to become the administrator of an imaginary, and yet familiar, Living City. Through the interactive installations, visitors can explore and utilize eight different principles on which organic and sustainable urban governance is based. Originally exhibited in Prague in the beginning of 2020, Sladovna Písek, in cooperation with Smart Písek, has now tailored the exhibition for the specific context of the city of Písek.

More information (in Czech) of the exhibition can be found here. 

Trondheim integrating +CityxChange into the local curriculum

Posted on February 1, 2021 by - News

The Newton Energy Room at the NTNU Science Museum in Trondheim is a familiar place for all 9th– grade students in the Trondheim municipality: in this science teaching room they spend two days solving tasks and learning about energy as a part of their school curriculum. Now the municipality of Trondheim is looking into how the +CityxChange project can contribute to the local education on the topics of energy and sustainability.

The +CityxChange project is already visible in the room, as everyone entering is required to watch the film ‘Energy positive Trondheim’ made by our partner Trondheim Kommune: watch it on their Youtube-channel. The feedback from the students is extremely positive, says Roy Even Aune, leader of the Science Center.

Next step is to integrate +CityxChange even more in the science teaching of future Norwegian innovators. Our partners in Trondheim Kommune are working together with Mr. Aune and two school advisors from the municipality in order to create an energy package that can be used both at the Newton room and in the schools. Later this year partners from Trondheim will meet with the science teachers to discuss how to integrate also values like sustainability, circular economy and democracy into the curriculum.

D1.2: Report on the Architecture for the ICT Ecosystem

Posted on February 1, 2021 by -

The deliverable 1.2: Report on the Architecture for the ICT Ecosystem was submitted by NTNU, UL & Lero with contributions from IES, FourC, and TK in January 2021. The executive summary of the deliverable is available below and the full deliverable at the end for download:

This work has been conducted within tasks T1.1 and T1.2. The main objectives of this work are to create an overall ICT architecture and service-based ecosystem to ensure that service providers of the +CityxChange project will develop, deploy, and test their services through integrated and interconnected approaches.

The main ideas of the +CityxChange Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF) is inspired by Enterprise Architecture approaches and anchors around a data space called the +CityxChange Data Space and value added services provided through collaborations among several partners. The approach is to provide a consistent architecture with clear separation of concerns and a strong integration and interoperability support, following requirements of the cities. This deliverable provides a description of the Enterprise Architecture Framework and provides guidelines on how to apply it.

The +CityxChange Enterprise Architecture Framework has been presented to the partners in WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, and WP7 and has been applied to describe various services. Descriptions of use cases have been included in the deliverable to illustrate how the developed EAF has been applied. Also, a step by step set of guidelines on how to apply the EAF has also been provided to support Followers Cities in replication of the services from WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, and WP7.

This Deliverable is linked with parallel work on data and API integration within the Ecosystem described here, described in D1.3: Report and catalogue on the ICT data integration and interoperability.

This current deliverable is a final version of D1.2 due on M24. The content presented in this deliverable is based on the modelled use cases which are mainly based on feedback from partners involved in WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, and WP7. The use cases involve high level user stories of the demonstration projects (DP1-DP11). Additionally, general feedback from partners, recommendations, roadmap, and reflections are presented.

D2.7: Local DPEB trading market demonstration tool

Posted on February 1, 2021 by -

The deliverable 2.7: Local DPEB trading market demonstration tool was submitted by Powel & IOTA, with contributions from ABB, and NTNU in January 2021. The deliverable was indicated as confidential, however, the authors agreed to make it available publicly. The executive summary of the deliverable is available below and the full deliverable at the end for download:

The demonstration includes trade operations with local energy resources like PV, EV chargers (V2G), batteries, heat, flexible load and others. The trade solution – inclusive the back-office routines – is based on a complete digitized chain of data flow and dispatch actions and opens up for a wide range of asset types and is scalable and replicable.

The delivery has a distinct innovative approach to local market design and operation. This is due to that the market access and operation are fully digitalised including the asset preferences, clearing and settlement. The D2.3: Report on Flexibility Market describes in detail technical and intentions of a local flexibility market. This learning is the basis for the design of a local energy market as described and made ready for demonstration of a trade platform in this report.

The software solution is in its kernel operating the local market similar to how trade is executed in the energy wholesale market. The solution is scalable when it comes to number and size of assets. It is also possible to configure the solution to manage multiple local markets. Sector coupling for local market trade of energy is made possible to be demonstrated because all actual energy assets are metered with smart meters and the heat resources are presented in the local marketplace as a flexible resource/product.

The trade solution is technically made for being automated operated. The Powel Digital marketplace is operated by the market operator and receives bids (bid includes buy and sales offers) from all market participants. Registered local assets are participating at the Digital marketplace by utilizing the Powel Algotrader software. Data is received from the ABB OPTIMAX ® units which are installed at each market asset site. Integrity of data about executed trades is guaranteed by the IOTA tangle and data is exported to the billing responsible part which in the project demonstration will be the market operator. Dispatch of agreed trade of flexibility is executed from OPTIMAX ® directly to the asset or as a signal to the building energy management system for the dispatch action.

The local energy market trade solution is going to be implemented and demonstrated in Trondheim as a Lighthouse City within the +CityxChange project.

D2.6: Framework for Community Grid Implementation

Posted on February 1, 2021 by -

The deliverable 2.6: Framework for Community Grid Implementation was submitted by MPOWER, with contributions from Powel, ESB Networks, IOTA, and NTNU in January 2021. The executive summary of the deliverable is available below and the full deliverable at the end for download:

Community Grid is a local energy community network of consumers, producers, and prosumers connected in a way that they can trade energy and flexibility inside the network without disturbing the power balance outside such a created local network. The Community Grid follows a demand response approach, sets up the infrastructure, and empowers end-users with necessary ICT infrastructure so that they can monitor and manage usage of their flexibility assets in real time with the opportunity to realise certain benefits from the active participation. The report describes an innovative approach to the creation of a disturbance neutral local energy community that will be implemented in +CityxChange lighthouse city of Limerick Ireland) and Trondheim (Norway). It is based on experience from Tallaght Community Energy Living Lab1 enriched with new insights that came from further research and inputs from other project partners involved in this task (POWEL, TrønderEnergi, ESB Networks, and IOTA). The report is formed in a way that can be used for application in any other city, covering all parts that are necessary for the implementation of the Community Grid.

Community Grid concept is an essential part of the +CityxChange initiative for the establishment of Positive Energy Blocks/Districts. Elaboration of the Community Grid concept has led to the establishment of a Community Grid System (CGS). CGS aims to be the solution that will enable citizens to effectively manage energy consumption in their buildings and communities. The Community Grid framework consists of four main segments or pillars: Energy Community Establishment; Community Legal, Grid & Financial Governance Body; Community Grid Smart System Design, and Community Market Places. Each segment deals with different Energy Community aspects that should be taken into consideration for the successful implementation of the Community Grid System. These are technical, regulatory, legal, social, spatial and economic aspects.

A key component in the Community Grid framework is the creation of a new governing support body, a Community System Operator (CSO). It is envisaged that the CSO will be a legal entity that oversees, by franchise, the management and safe operation of a Community Grid System. A CGS comprises participants that operate under specific rules, set by, and agreed with a CSO i.e. Regulation by Contract implemented by way of a system distributed by Franchise Agreement to exacting Community Grid Standards.

1 Tallaght Community Energy Living Lab also known as Tallaght Smart Grid Test Bed project was first supported by the SEAI Research, Development & Demonstration (RD&D) Funding Programme in 2013 which led to the development and demonstration of a trial of the first community energy grid in Tallaght.

SCIS Positive Energy Districts solution booklet

Posted on January 13, 2021 by -

Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) are gaining importance, both as urban innovation labs and as concrete, on-the-ground projects for creating future proof, energy-positive and climate-neutral urban living environments. Where do they come from and why should one have one or more PEDs developed in one’s own city?

The Positive Energy Districts solution booklet is conceived as an umbrella, referring to other solution booklets and relevant sources where appropriate. The themes addressed will vary from citizen engagement and urban planning to the technical matters of district heating and cooling networks, refurbishment, local energy generation or home and district batteries. Innovative business models and financial schemes are considered.

The present booklet focuses on the following questions: how can a PED be set up? Which factors are important? Who should be involved, and when? What are the main issues to consider for its energy system? How can costs and benefits be fairly shared through business models that are fit for this purpose? How to secure qualitative aspects like social inclusion and spatial quality?

Year: 2020

Editor:Han Vandevyvere (VITO / EnergyVille)

Co-authors: Dirk Ahlers, Beril Alpagut, Veronika Cerna, Vincenzo Cimini, Sindi Haxhija, Mari Hukkalainen, Michal Kuzmic, Klaus Livik, Marielisa Padilla, Marije Poel, Cecilia Sanz Montalvillo, Socrates Schouten, Marit Teigen Myrstad, Mark van Wees, Karen Williams, Annemie Wyckmans, Andrea Gabaldon, Nora Fernandez Perez, Sari Hirvonen Kantola, Sophie Dourlens, Els Struiving

Open Innovation Call #2, Limerick

Posted on January 12, 2021 by - News

Do you have an idea that could help transform the way Limerick uses energy? Open Innovation Call #2 is focused on generating and supporting new ideas that contribute to an ambitious ongoing goal for the city: creating a positive energy district, a compact area that actually produces more renewable energy than it consumes.

This goal is the work of the +CityxChange Project, which organises the Open Innovation Calls. These Calls are a way for members of the public to join the work of the project, by demonstrating ideas, pilot projects and prototypes that can be tested in real-life settings in Limerick. Open Innovation Call #2 is focused on software-based projects that could improve how homes, businesses and residents use energy – making energy use simpler, more accessible, and more streamlined.

Citizens, makers, creatives, startups, businesses and other stakeholders are welcome to apply for funding and get involved. Eligible projects could include using sensors and data to understand energy use, empowering communities to take control of their energy, visualising financial cases for community grids and renewable energy cooperatives, and other innovations that support communities to take an active part in the energy transition.

Applications to the Open Innovation Call will be open in January 2021. An Information Session and Matchmaking Event will also take place. Details to be announced soon.

Please email cityxchange@limerick.ie to register your interest or to ask questions.