Flexibility potentials
and solutions of buildings, districts, transport, and energy-intensive industries
Scientists of Topic 2 "Digitalization and System Technology" of our research program Energy System Design published a joint technical report on the flexibility potentials and solutions of buildings, districts, transport, and energy-intensive industries.
The future German energy supply is expected to rely primarily or entirely on renewable resources. The main challenge such an energy system would entail is the highly fluctuating nature of electrical energy from wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants, with large diurnal and seasonal fluctuations. In all strategies for balancing supply and demand, the direct use of electricity without intermediate storage or conversion should be prioritized, as it tends to have a cost-reducing and efficiency-increasing effect. Still, domestic renewable electricity generation will not cover demand during significant portions of the year. Hence, electricity importing, national and international grid expansion, energy storage, cross-sectoral integration, and flexibility options will be crucial. Green hydrogen is envisioned to play a key role as an energy carrier that can bridge different sectors and enable the temporal decoupling of energy generation and use.
Picture: DLR
To estimate flexibility potentials and develop innovative flexibility solutions in the form of concepts, methods, and software, the Energy System Design program focuses on buildings, districts, industry, and transport. The present report provides a retrospective overview of these activities until the year 2023 by summarizing key related work and publications.