Internet-inspired power distribution and sharing system starts in Sweden
Gunilla Flygare, Vice President and Business Development Manager LKF, Fredrik Millertson, CEO LKF, Jonas Birgersson, Chairman ViaEuropa, Mats Helmfrid, Chairman of the City Council, Lund Municipality, Markus Paulsson, Project Manager CoAction Lund, Lund Municipality. Image courtesy CoAction Lund
In Lund, Sweden, an iniative known as EnergyNet has been undertaken to change how electricity is shared and distributed, inspired by how the internet works.
An initiative within the framework of CoAction Lund, EnergyNet enables local production, storage and sharing of electricity, where surplus can be sold directly between properties. The aim is to create a more robust, cheaper and greener electricity system.
Behind the development is the company ViaEuropa.
Under the initiative, properties are equipped with solar cells and battery storage, which makes it possible to share surplus electricity between the buildings. In the long term, an expanded EnergyNet will aim to increase the community’s electricity security and contribute to a significant increase in locally produced green energy.
Commenting in a release was Jonas Birgersson, chairman of ViaEuropa: “This is not just an improvement – it is a paradigm shift. EnergyNet lays the foundation for a future where electricity is cheaper, greener and safer.”
In the pilot project, Lunds kommunns fastighets AB (LKF), Lunds kommunns parkerings AB (LKP) and ViaEuropa are collaborating in an energy community. LKF’s office in Brunnshög and the Aurora parking garage owned by LKP are the first to use the system.
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EnergyNet: How it works
EnergyNet, developed according to the same principles as the internet, is decentralised, which according to CoAction Lund makes it significantly more resistant to disruptions.
Through new types of power electronics, electricity distribution becomes controlled by software. The new networks are also distributed, which makes it easier to solve electricity problems closer to the consumer.
EnergyNet makes use of a common and open language for all resources in the network to talk to each other. Their Energy Protocol (EP), developed by the non-profit organisation Energy Engineering Task Force, fulfills the same role as the Internet Protocol (IP) does for the Internet.
The energy routers use EP and consist of power electronics that can distribute and convert electricity from AC to DC and DC to AC. The energy routers are connected behind the traditional electricity meters and can handle all types of electricity, including alternating current to the overhead grid and to the traditional electricity grid in the house; direct current to solar cells, batteries and electric car chargers; and direct current to the next energy router in the grid.
Benefits of EnergyNet
According to CoAction Lund, there are many advantages of EnergyNet compared to the traditional local electricity grid:
• It is distributed, which means it is very difficult to sabotage and is resilient to other types of disruptions such as storms or extreme weather conditions.
• It does not have to be balanced every millisecond, which reduces the risk of interruptions or breakdowns.
• It is symmetrical, which means that it is possible to ‘upload’ as much electricity over the grid as it is possible to ‘download’.
• It is possible to build local markets for energy, which creates strong local communities.
• It enables many new services from independent players.
CoAction Lund is funded within the framework of Viable Cities by Vinnova and the Swedish Energy Agency.
