The Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) enables Austrian energy customers to take an active role in the energy supply and to help shape the energy transition. The focus of interest is on the joint production and consumption of energy within the framework of local energy communities. Together with the project consortium, Salzburg Research is solving the associated challenges.

Austria is supposed to become climate-neutral by 2040 and already generate its electricity exclusively from renewable energies by 2030. However, local energy communities not only bring new opportunities; their integration into the energy system also poses challenges.

For smooth integration, consumption and generation within the community should be coordinated in real time. Salzburg Research is developing suitable solutions for this together with partners from research and industry. The aim is to create opportunities for such energy communities to contribute to the stability and performance of the energy grid, e.g. by reducing peak loads and providing flexibility. Based on an in-depth analysis, an expandable, modular and scalable IT system architecture will be designed for the uniform integration and operation of local energy communities. IT security and privacy “by design” will be taken into account.

Our role in the research project: Salzburg Research contributes to the digital implementation and for smooth communication within local energy communities. We are working on a communication architecture that enables a flexible, reliable and bidirectional connection between the participants of a community or external organisations.

About ECOSINT

The objectives of the joint research work are:

• Analysis of the goals and possibilities of energy communities
• Elaboration of all legal/regulatory, technical and economic requirements for and of energy communities
• Design of an open, secure, modular and scalable IT system architecture for the integration and operation of LECs
• Simulative validation and proof-of-concept evaluation for selected use cases

Project consortium: FH Salzburg (consortium leadership), AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Energie-Control Austria, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Netz Oberösterreich GmbH, Ökostrombörse Salzburg, Salzburg Netz GmbH, Salzburg Research, Siemens AG Österreich.

ECOSINT is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund of the Ministry of Climate Protection.

More information:

• ECOSINT – Energy Community System Integration (project description on this website)
• www.ecosint.at (official project website)