Small Danish island could help launch smart-grid revolution

A small Danish island in the Baltic Sea is becoming a living laboratory for technologies that could dramatically transform the energy world.

Having already developed a substantial supply of renewable energy, Bornholm is now embarking on a test of smart-grid technologies designed to give residents greater insights into how they use electricity at home. The idea behind that is that knowledge is power: that people who understand how much energy they use and how much they pay for it are likely to use less to save money. The experiment getting under way will also tap into a variety of automated tools to make cutting energy use even easier.

Known as EcoGrid EU, the project kicked off last month and is expected to continue over the next four years.

“EcoGrid EU is an incredibly promising pilot project, in which Bornholm will become a test island in the future intelligent electricity system,” said Lykke Friis, Denmark’s former Minister for Climate and Energy. “The results will not only be usable in Denmark and Europe, but all over the world. We need an intelligent electricity system which can integrate more wind power and other renewable energy sources. In order to make the setup work in the future, it is necessary to turn all resources in regional grids into active players, exactly as it will happen in Bornholm.”

Participating in the pilot will be about 2,000 of the island’s 28,000 electricity customers. Starting next year, their homes will be equipped with advanced energy meters, along with “smart” appliances and other devices that can automatically switch on and off as energy prices change over five-minute increments.

Each home will get a smart controller to manage all the devices. Participating residents will also get access to web-based energy-management apps that can run on smartphones, tablets and PCs.

Similar to EDISON, an electric-vehicle project that preceded it, EcoGrid EU will also store unused energy on electric vehicle batteries.

“By taking into account real-time conditions we can increase the use of renewable energy, balance grid load, reduce failures and accommodate consumer preferences and their desire to reduce energy consumption,” said Guido Bartels, general manager for Energy and Utilities industry at IBM and chairman of the Global Smart Grid Federation. “The EcoGrid EU project combined with lessons learned from EDISON, demonstrates our steady movement towards a sophisticated smart grid that will be capable of managing the future requirements for energy.”

Around half of the project’s €21 million budget is being supported by the EU. The remainder will come from the consortium behind the initiative, which was launched by Danish gas and electricity supplier Energinet and coordinated by SINTEF Energi of Norway.

Other partners include Østkraft Holding; Danmarks Tekniske Universitet; Siemens; IBM; EnCT; ELIA System Operator; Fundación Technalia Research & Innovation; Österreichisches Forschungs- und Prüfzentrum Arsenal Ges.; Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland; TNO; Eandis; Tallinna Tehnikaülikool; EDP Distribuição; and Landis+Gyr, Denmark.