Grid congestion plagues new construction project. The newspapers are full of it. A leading and European subsidized exemplary project on the TU Eindhoven campus shows that things can be done differently. By cleverly coordinating (climate) installations, software suppliers, installation manufacturers and clients are playing out space for the construction of a new lab and data center. "This is a playground of innovation."
Building owners are increasingly being targeted by grid operators. They then receive one or more letters stating that they are about their connection. So did TU Eindhoven. In 2023, that "angry letter" fell on their doorstep.
Tom Selten is founder of Zympler. Especially for the business market, he develops software that generates predictions and controls various systems and (climate) installations: from batteries to charging stations, from heat pumps to solar panels. At the university where he studied, he is now working on a European supported 'Genius project'.
A what?
"Everyone knows the phenomenon of grid congestion, which means that almost no one can build or get a new connection. But roughly speaking, net congestion is similar to the traffic jam problem: half the time we don't use the network or hardly use it at all. This is also the case on the TU Eindhoven campus. Our challenge is to get all these systems to 'talk' to each other intelligently and to make smarter use of power and electricity. With the mantra: we don't have an energy problem in the Netherlands, we have a power problem."
What did you find three years ago?
"All sorts of things. For example, there was no storage capacity at all yet. Another problem was the heat system. Something was being done with it, but at night the buildings cooled down considerably, while the heat pumps were then running vigorously in the morning. That was not cleverly regulated."
What is the challenge on the project near campus?
"Connecting all the devices present is not easy. Sometimes we had to replace EV chargers, we suffered from unreliable batteries or we had to adjust something with the control of certain heat pumps. Interoperability is one of the biggest challenges. When designing individual installations or devices, too little consideration is still given to this."
What costs are involved in this project?
"About 8 million euros (including subsidies etc, ed). But this investment pays for itself incredibly quickly. Suddenly there is again room to build a new data center and a new research lab within the connection limit. Where until recently they were going over their contracted power and even getting letters about it. So the joke is that they are only using the grid at 50 percent. We want to get that to 80 percent."
What does the rest of the building industry gain from this? If all building managers do this can we continue to build?
"I think so. In the Netherlands we also only use about half of our electricity grid. So we can use the electricity grid much smarter. Although there is a nuance to that: You have to deal with three networks: a low voltage network, one for medium voltage and one high voltage (the highway). In the Netherlands we mainly have a problem with that 'highway'; we move a lot of wind energy from the West to the East of the Netherlands. That is also the reason why we are completely congested in Utrecht, Flevoland and Gelderland."
When will you be ready in Eindhoven?
"For now, we have plenty of ideas. We are also working with a fantastic client. And from Europe people are looking at the Netherlands with quite a lot of interest to see how we solve this."
How much fun is it to work on?
"It's super cool. It's like a playground of innovation. A demonstration project. We jokingly call it mini-Madurodam and see this as the Netherlands in miniature. Really everything is here on a small scale. From homes to businesses to a battery with 180 charging points. And a lot of solar and wind energy is being generated."
Curious about the whole story? Then listen to the new episode of Bureau Stoer:
z
