Simulation environment for energy systems

The energy system of the future will have to master many different challenges. At Fraunhofer IFAM, a wide variety of energy systems can be observed and analyzed using a simulation environment developed in-house, with the focus on buildings and the topic of electromobility. The simulation environment has been developed in a way that it can be adapted to a wide range of requirements and needs. Individual assumptions about possible future developments can also be taken into account in the simulation and optimization calculations.

Promoting the energy transition through smart sector coupling

The energy transition poses a wide variety of challenges for private individuals as well as for (industrial) companies, energy system service providers, energy suppliers and grid operators. Whereas a few years ago it was mainly gas and oil heating systems and vehicles with internal combustion engines that were widespread, today and in the future, there are significantly more alternatives to choose from. Systems are becoming more complex, and sector coupling is leading to greater interdependencies between the individual system components. As a result, it has become and will continue to become increasingly complex to identify and dimension the optimum system components.

Today, a wide variety of system components are available, which are also interconnected, so that the selection and dimensioning of the components must be considered holistically. In addition to the economy, ecology – in particular the reduction of CO2 emissions – is also in the foreground. Self-consumption quotas and degrees of self-sufficiency, but also the topic of grid load and the consideration of regulatory framework conditions are in focus.

Due to the increased component diversity and the various interdependencies between the components, individual and detailed analyses are necessary to identify and dimension the optimal components for each individual application.

Simulation software for optimizing the dimensioning and operational management of the energy system

With the simulation software developed at Fraunhofer IFAM, a wide variety of energy systems can be analyzed, and the selection and dimensioning of the system components optimized. By additionally integrating a mathematical solver, the operating mode of the system can be optimized in addition to the system dimensioning.

Overall, a wide variety of energy systems with different components can be mapped and investigated. These can include, for example, electric vehicles, electrical energy storage systems, PV systems or heat pumps. But also, the integration of customer-specific special systems or components under development into the simulation environment is possible due to the existing interfaces. For the modeled energy systems, the (future) energy flows can be determined, from which many other key figures can be mapped.

Diverse potentials for Vehicle to X (V2G, V2H) and more

For example, the potential of alternative energy and charging management variants or of vehicle-to-X applications can be investigated and analyzed in detail. Here, both economic issues and analyses of CO2 emissions, network load or a variety of other aspects can be carried out. 

Thus, different energy system configurations can be considered within the framework of simulation calculations and compared with each other based on various aspects, whereby the focus here is particularly on the topics of economy and ecology. The results of these analyses provide valuable information and offer an important decision-making basis for investments in one's own energy system.

This leads to a need for dimensioning of new components, which are integrated into the energy system, as well as statements on economy and ecology (especially CO2 emissions or reduction), self-consumption quotas, degrees of self-sufficiency as well as grid load under consideration of regulatory framework conditions.