»Living Lab« Micro Smart Grid

Local energy systems will become increasingly complex in the future, with growing challenges for cost-effective implementation and efficient operation. In the institute's own “Micro Smart Grid”, Fraunhofer IAO is investigating how energy producers, storage systems and consumers can be optimally dimensioned and precisely coordinated with each other using energy management systems developed in-house. Innovative technologies and new software solutions are validated and tested under everyday conditions.

An overview of the research priorities and services of the Fraunhofer IAO in the field of charging and energy infrastructure:

• Mobility concepts in the section of corporate and municipal mobility strategy development and modular vehicle fleet analysis
• Electrification potential for passenger cars and commercial vehicles based on existing mobility data and current vehicle technology
• Charging infrastructure planning for cars and trucks, e.g. in parking garages, at depots or at public locations
• Energy concepts for local energy systems with charging infrastructure, generators and storage (potential analyses and energy design of microgrids)
• Software solutions for backend systems and energy management (e.g. for load management, billing, scheduling, market integration)
• Profitability analyses and ecological assessments of various vehicle and infrastructure scenarios, e.g. also with dynamic electricity prices, bidirectional charging and flexibility marketing

With the “Fraunhofer IAO Micro Smart Grid”, a “living laboratory” has been set up in the parking garage of the Fraunhofer Institute Center Stuttgart, which demonstrates the latest technologies in everyday operation under scientific supervision and serves as a basis for our own developments.

• With over 70 charging stations for electric vehicles and 3 high-performance fast-charging stations, the annex has been one of the largest charging infrastructure installations in a parking garage since 2011. The complete traction current is produced by a photovoltaic system. Generation and consumption can be optimally coordinated with the help of a lithium-ion battery storage system.
• With Europe's first industrialized LOHC hydrogen storage, hydrogen can be molecularly bound in a carrier oil and safely stored. This eliminates the need for expensive pressure tanks or cooling systems for liquid hydrogen. With a capacity of 2,000 kWh, the component in the Micro Smart Grid has provided high-energy and long-term storage since 2016, connected to the power supply via a fuel cell.
• With the energy management system developed in-house, the micro smart grid can be operated with regard to various optimization goals. Forecast algorithms for generation and consumption can also be used and market and grid status data can be taken into account.
• With the dispatch and charging management system developed in-house, the institute's own fleet of electric vehicles at the location can be organized and charged in a grid-friendly manner.

Other research priorities of the Fraunhofer IAO include the development and application of scalable simulation models for the planning and design of local energy systems and, in particular, for the conception of charging infrastructure systems for electric vehicles.