News detailed view

Smart Energy for the Countryside

Renewable energies are some of the most important sources of electricity. The “SmartFarm2” project from the university and its partners helps in optimizing private energy consumption with renewable energies. Interested parties near to Osterholz and in the Allgäu region can take part in the project.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2020 more than 50 percent of the electricity supplied to networks came from renewable energies for the first time. The usage correlates with a large area requirement. Especially rural areas have recorded an increase in relevant facilities. This leads to new working fields for people who live and work there. Agricultural farmers are now becoming energy farmers, for example.

First Financing Rounds for Solar and Wind Power Facilities Coming to an End

At the end of 2020, the legally guaranteed remuneration in accordance with the German “EE” law ended for the first solar power systems, as this applies for 20 years per system. The funding will also cease for the first wind power facilities. A further operation of the old solar and wind power facilities after expiration of the legal remuneration obligations is, however, desirable. No only so that the produced energy can be used. For the operators of such plants, it can often be worthwhile to move to private consumption.

Projects Will Fit over 100 Building with Easily Manageable Sensors

The “SmartFarm2” project from the Center for Industrial Mathematics (ZeTeM) at the University of Bremen is taking this as a starting point. It wants to show users how they can potentially optimize their own consumption. “We want to build a test field with over one hundred so-called real demonstrations,” says the project leader, Professor Christof Büskens from ZeTeM at the university. Examples of buildings are dairy farms, pig farms, greenhouses, and schools. “We want to fit these buildings with simple-to-control sensor technology,” states the scientist, “in order to record the high-definition, time-dependent consumer and producer data that has not been available to date.” Based on said data, the economic potential of own consumption optimization can be discovered with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) methods and mathematical optimization algorithms.  Subsequently, a highly automated energy management system will be developed.  

Participation Possible

Interested parties near to Osterholz and in the Allgäu region can take part in the project - especially the owners of small and middle-sized farming businesses or communal facilities. Information can be found at https://smartfarm2.de/  (in German only).

Funding of over 1.4 Million Euros

“SmartFarm2” is being financed with over 1.4 million euros from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy over the course of three years. Other project partners alongside the University of Bremen are Steinbeis Innovation Center Optimization, Control and Adjustment Control, who are coordinating the project, as well as KMU nD-enerserve from Hanover and Q3 ENERGIE from Kaufbeuren.

 

Further Information:

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Christof Büskens
Center for Industrial Mathematics (ZeTeM)
Faculty of Mathematics / Computer Science
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-63861
Email: bueskensmath.uni-bremen.de

Erneuerbare Energien