• Ongoing Projects
• Neighbourhood solutions with energy sharing

The Borderstep Institute, in cooperation with the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility (IKEM), is conducting a study for the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) to examine the framework conditions for the efficient implementation of neighbourhood solutions for energy sharing.

The background is that self-supply with energy from rooftop PV systems in buildings and neighbourhoods in combination with home storage systems and the feed-in of surplus electricity into the public grid is increasing significantly.

Generating and using energy together

Neighbourhood solutions in energy management offer opportunities to generate and use energy more efficiently, sustainably and collectively directly in the neighbourhood. For example, technologies such as power-to-heat or power-to-vehicle are used to utilise surplus electrical energy.

At the same time, neighbourhood solutions can also help to provide flexibility for supplying the surrounding area and the distribution grid. Such flexibilities make an important contribution to the energy transition, as they help to better harmonise supply and demand in the increasingly fluctuating electricity system.

Concepts and business models for energy management

In order to make better use of this potential, we need standardised and more efficient processes as well as suitable organisational and contractual concepts for energy management – for example for optimisation, sector coupling and flexibilisation. It must also be possible to implement these concepts as business models between the stakeholders in the neighbourhood, for example for energy sharing, peer-to-peer trading or energy pooling.

The aim of the study is to analyse how ‘energy sharing’, which is provided for in the EU legal framework but has not yet been enshrined in national law in Germany, can be implemented using appropriate concepts and business models. The aim is to achieve economies of scale and higher utilisation of the energy infrastructure within neighbourhoods.

Recommendations for the promotion of energy sharing

To this end, the Borderstep Institute and IKEM are analysing best practice approaches and formulating recommendations for the promotion of energy sharing and its implementation in German law.