The energy transition is making the German energy system increasingly complex. Intelligent management systems are needed to automatically and efficiently control decentralised producers and consumers. In the "Digitalisation of Energy" future lab, seven research institutions – the universities of Oldenburg, Hanover and Braunschweig, the Emden-Leer and Ostfalia universities of applied sciences, and the DLR and OFFIS institutes, both also in Oldenburg – and eleven companies from Lower Saxony are pooling their expertise to drive this process forward. The supporting companies include EWE Netz GmbH, Enercity Hannover AG, Avacon AG, Buderus AG, Solvis GmbH, Schulz Systemtechnik GmbH, BTC AG, KEHAG GmbH, the Federal Association of Energy Consumers (VEA) and VW Immobilien GmbH.

Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Sebastian Lehnhoff, energy computer scientist at the University of Oldenburg and spokesperson for the Future Lab, the research network will, for example, model how residential areas can be optimally supplied with decentralised energy through the targeted use of digitalisation. A large share of self-consumption and a high degree of self-sufficiency reduce the need for expensive expansion of electricity grids and promote electromobility. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Science has been funding the project for five years with around 3.7 million euros since 1 October 2019.

The project is divided into two pillars. In the first sub-project, "Research into ICT dependencies in neighbourhood supply systems", the team is researching and further developing digitalised energy systems. In the second sub-project, a platform is being set up that will enable energy system research in Lower Saxony and beyond to be efficiently networked and research results to be more easily transferred into practice.

The researchers are focusing their work on the energy supply of residential neighbourhoods. "The smallest units of digitised energy systems are automatically controlled residential buildings or commercial enterprises, known as smart homes or smart facilities," explains Prof. Astrid Nieße, who heads the Digitised Energy Systems department at the University of Oldenburg. "An energy management system that uses current environmental and forecast data regulates generators and consumers such as solar panels, storage systems, heat pumps, heating, electrical appliances and electric cars." The aim is to minimise operating costs, energy consumption and emissions. Measuring, communication and automation technology also offer promising optimisation opportunities at the neighbourhood level, according to Prof. Michael Breitner, head of the Institute for Information Systems at Leibniz University Hannover: "These technologies make it possible to provide energy when it is needed – through the targeted use of renewable energy sources, the utilisation of waste heat, the efficient management of storage facilities and the integration of combined heat and power plants, industrial heat pumps and fuel cells into the system." "In this way, digitalisation technologies are being used and further developed in the interests of sustainable development of future energy systems," adds Nieße. Within the project, the researchers are initially working out various use cases, developing corresponding models and analysing different scenarios with the aid of simulations and hardware test environments.

The platform, which will be set up in the second pillar of the project, will consist of several elements. Among other things, a network of participating experts, test laboratories and research institutions, a database and a cloud-based solution will be developed in which results will be presented and made available for further development.

The "Digitalisation Energy" future lab is part of the Centre for Digital Innovation Lower Saxony (ZDIN), which is coordinated from Oldenburg. In a total of six future labs, scientists from research institutions and universities in Lower Saxony work with partners from industry to generate ideas for application-oriented research projects and work on them together. In addition to energy, the focus is on agriculture, society & work, health, mobility and production.