Designing smarter local energy communities for a congested grid
Farzaneh Mousavi Motlagh defended her PhD thesis at the Department of Built Environment on September 2.
As renewable generation and electricity demand continue to grow, grid congestion is becoming a major challenge in the Netherlands. Local energy communities offer a promising solution by enabling neighboring buildings to coordinate renewable energy generation, storage, and flexible electricity demand. Yet, it remains difficult to quantify their benefits and determine how they should be designed.
In her PhD research, developed a simulation-based design approach that helped planners, building owners, and grid operators evaluate and optimize local energy communities before implementation.
Addressing grid congestion through local energy communities
Local energy communities have emerged as a promising strategy for improving the integration of renewable energy. By enabling neighboring buildings to coordinate energy generation, storage, and flexible electricity demand, they can help reduce pressure on the grid while making better use of locally produced energy.
Mousavi Motlagh investigated how different energy resources, including buildings, solar panels, batteries, heat pumps, and the electricity grid, could work together more effectively within these communities. Her research combined detailed building energy simulations with advanced optimization models to explore the performance of different design strategies.
A case study involving seven office buildings in the Netherlands demonstrated the practical application of the proposed approach.
Unlocking the flexibility of buildings
One of the most innovative aspects of the research was the use of building thermal mass as a source of energy flexibility. Thermal mass refers to the ability of building elements such as walls, floors, and ceilings to store heat.
Mousavi Motlagh showed that by strategically adjusting heating schedules while maintaining indoor comfort, buildings could shift electricity demand to times when renewable energy was more readily available or when grid congestion was lower. Unlike battery storage, this form of flexibility required little to no additional investment, making it a highly attractive option for future energy systems.
Cost savings, lower emissions, and reduced grid pressure
The results demonstrated that coordinating buildings within a local energy community reduced operational energy costs, lowered COâ‚‚ emissions, and decreased strain on the electricity grid compared with optimizing each building individually.
The study also showed that the combined thermal mass of multiple buildings could provide a level of energy flexibility comparable to more conventional solutions such as battery storage. This finding highlighted the potential of existing building stock to contribute to the energy transition in a cost-effective way.
At the same time, the research emphasized that successful implementation depended on careful coordination between different flexibility resources and consideration of the interests of the various stakeholders involved in local energy communities.
Supporting the energy transition
By developing practical design methods and providing quantitative evidence, Mousavi Motlagh's work supported the development of local energy communities that make more effective use of renewable energy and existing infrastructure.
More broadly, the research contributed to a shift in thinking about the role of buildings in energy systems. Rather than acting solely as energy consumers, buildings were shown to have the potential to become active participants in balancing supply and demand while maintaining occupant comfort.
Title of PhD thesis: Supervisors: Pieter-Jan Hoes and Roel Loonen