ENsource

In the ENsource research project, amongst others, new simulation, communication and optimization tools as well as energy management strategies were developed and then investigated and applied in five case studies from industry, commerce and municipalities. IGTE was involved in the “Mannheim” and “Mainau” case studies and was particularly responsible for the development of sustainable heat supply concepts.

Mannheim case study

In the context of remodeling, approx. 144 hectares of the conversion area “Benjamin Franklin Village” in Mannheim were to become a role model for energy-efficient living, smart grids and sustainable mobility. The master plan for this conversion area, published by the City of Mannheim in 2014, included high energetic building standards and a high (local) renewable energy supply, resulting in lowest possible CO₂ emissions (“low emission and low energy district”).

At IGTE, several innovative heat supply concepts, with a focus on a significant percentage of solar thermal energy, were developed for the “Sullivan“ district in the Benjamin Frankling Village. Based on initially static calculations via monthly energy balances, the key figures of the developed concepts were compared with each other. Furthermore, the concepts were compared with an already existing, conventional heat supply concept. In detailed dynamic simulation calculations via the TRNSYS software, selected concepts were investigated in more detail and proposals for the design of the most important system components were made.

Mainau case study

Mainau GmbH as one of the biggest tourism and gardening companies in Baden-Württemberg pursues an energy concept of converting the whole island’s energy and heat supply completely into renewable energy sources. In the ENsource project, IGTE was involved both in analyzing the actual state and in developing concepts for optimizing the heat supply regarding its total energy efficiency, a primary energy demand reduction and the increased use of renewable energy sources.

At first, IGTE depicted the most important buildings and greenhouse facilities, supplied by the heating system, via the TRNSYS simulation software and created thermal load profiles which were reconciled with available measurement data. TRNSYS simulations were also performed to investigate optimization proposals for the current heat supply. In phase II of the project, several innovative concepts for the overall energy supply (electricity, heat, cold, mobility) were developed and analyzed in detail with the help of TRNSYS simulations.

Project website: http://www.ensource.de/

08/2015 - 12/2018 (Phase I)

01/2019 - 03/2021 (Phase II)

The most important results of the ENsource research project were published as a book:

Urbane Energiesysteme und Ressourceneffizienz - ENsource (in German)

The ENsource project was funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) of the State Baden-Württemberg and by the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRE) under grant number FEIH_ZAFH_1248932. The authors would like to sincerely thank for their support and take responsibility for this publication.