The project MeRegio

The precept of the research project MeRegio (Minimum Emission Regions) is to meet the demand for more efficient, decentralized energy systems by integrating advanced information and communication technology (ICT) into all stages of the electricity chain of values added and thus, considerably enhance energy efficiency. The core of this project is a marketplace which is coupled to the technical energy infrastructure by a powerful and lawful ICT infrastructure and which enables an efficient and transparent coordination of energy supply, energy demand and services. The techno-economic concepts developed will be analyzed in a regional field study in the city of Göppingen and the rural municipality of Freiamt (state of Baden-Wuerttemberg), with about 1000 private and commercial customers particpating. Additionally, further research participants will be connected to the model area by means of a grid simulation.

The topics are developed by an interdisciplinary working group composed of computer scientists, economists, and legal scholars at the KIT in close cooperation with the industrial partners ABB, EnBW, IBM, SAP and Systemplan. The main objective of the consortium leader EnBW is to build up a model region as a basis for the activities of the project partners. Systemplan supports EnBW and collects consumption data for selected participants. SAP designs an energy marketplace as a means of coordination in distributed energy infrastructures. ABB's main objective is to develop and implement a prototypical network management system by connecting energy trading systems, smart meters and power system control. IBM integrates marketplace and technical system on the basis of a centralized ICT platform. The main tasks of the KIT are the development of novel concepts, the simulation of various scenarios, the evaluation of measures and the implementation and testing of a MeRegio certification. The focus is primarily set on legal, economic, environmental and ICT aspects.