Intelligent networks are the key to controlling economics in fields such as information technologies, transportation and energy. Market deregulation, greater reliance on renewable energy sources, climate protection and the growing demand for electricity have placed new demands on the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy. RWE Deutschland AG is working with partners to develop solutions to these challenges so it can create a vision of smart energy.

The Virtual Power Plant

Intelligent networking begins at the power generation stage. Small plants, in particular, have a difficult time holding their own in energy markets. For this reason, a solution was developed to bundle the power of small power plants, what is known as the virtual power plant. No power is generated in the virtual power plant. Instead, the power plant connects small distributed power plants, such as wind power plants, block-central cogeneration stations, photovoltaic plants, small hydropower units and biogas plants.

This system makes it easier to bring power to the market. The plants are controlled from a dispatching center. Virtual power plants benefit more than the single plant operators. Grid operators benefit as well since virtual power plants enable more consistent utilization of regional grid capacity, thus optimizing the use of the grid operator's resources.

Together with Siemens and Lister-Lennekraftwerke, RWE has finished a trial of nine renewable energy plants. Through this project, RWE and Siemens have proved the technical and economic advantages of virtual power plants and also gained insights into other potential applications. Additional distributed generation plants such as block-central cogeneration stations and biomass and wind power plants could be added to the network. The aim of coordinated use of distributed generation plants also has to help improve energy market integration.

An Energy Marketplace

Networking is not just an issue for generating electricity. RWE also is testing models that use intelligent solutions in energy trading. One example is the E-DeMa project, which is sponsored by the German government. This project is part of the utility's aim to actively incorporate consumers, small generators and volatile generation (for example, by wind turbines or photovoltaics) in the energy market. E-DeMa stands for development and demonstration of locally networked energy systems.

As part of this project, consumers become active participants in the energy market by backfeeding their surplus power — such as the power generated from a µCHP in a cellar, a cogeneration plant in a garden or a photovoltaic system on a roof — into the distribution network. Each household becomes a “prosumer,” both a producer and consumer of energy. The goal of E-DeMa is to increase energy benefits and efficiency for power generators, municipal utilities, appliance manufacturers and, above all, customers.

Customers can then purchase energy when it is least expensive. This benefits not only the individual prosumers but also Germany's entire energy supply system, which will become more flexible and thus more efficient. This project will establish an energy marketplace that connects not only the RWE Rhine-Ruhr distribution networks but also the Krefeld municipal utility distribution network.

E-DeMa is creating an integrated infrastructure for controlling consumption, which actively involves consumers, and on this basis, additional energy services can be established.

Transparent Consumption

For these innovations to work, each participant must have a powerful communication infrastructure, which needs to be tested on a large scale. In 2009, RWE initiated a pilot project in Mülheim — the Rhine-Ruhr area, the largest metropolitan region in Germany — for this purpose. As part of the project, RWE equipped more than 100,000 households with a smart meter, from which the current consumption can be read at any time and which can be used to establish communication between the grid operator and the household.

Producers and customers who consume electricity without feeding power back into the network benefit from smart metering technology. Until now, consumers received very little information on their energy consumption during the year. Only at the end of the year were they able to see how much electricity they had consumed.

In the future, all consumers will be able to obtain information about their electricity consumption using tools such as special software installed on their computers. This transparency is the first step toward efficient energy consumption. Power-hungry appliances can be identified quickly and replaced. This not only helps to reduce electricity bills, it also helps to protect the environment.

Smart Homes

Smart metering creates opportunities for even more applications and convenience. In the future, smart meters will enable intelligent control of household appliances. Washing machines, dryers and chargers for mobile devices will switch on automatically when energy on the market is least expensive.

Customers will become electricity purchasers. Household appliances within the smart home also will be designed to be controlled and programmed using the customer's cell phone. The customer will be able to decide when and which appliance to run. This will let the customer determine the operating regime for each individual device and enable the programming of entire scenarios linking the functions of multiple appliances:

• Customers will be able to program window blinds to open, and the heater and coffee maker to switch on when the alarm operates in the morning.

• The cooker, coffee maker and iron will be able to be switched off, window blinds closed and the alarm activated when the customer leaves home. This technology will not only make the customer's lifestyle more convenient, it also will help save energy.

• Customers will be able to program their heaters to reduce output automatically when windows and doors are opened to prevent energy from being wasted.

• Additionally, a network of sensors could be installed so the control system would be aware the home was unoccupied, so all installed appliances could be automatically switched to standby.