Energy is more than electricity
How other forms of energy can support the energy transition
How other forms of energy can support the energy transition
The power grid is reaching capacity in more and more places. This limits expansion, electrification, and renewable generation. When looking for solutions, we often turn to that same power grid again: can we shift consumption, reduce peaks, or temporarily store electricity? But what happens if we take a broader view of the energy challenge?
There are more ways to address grid congestion than shifting electricity consumption to quieter times of the day. Other forms of energy can also play a role. These include heat networks, battery storage, hydrogen, green methane, and energy storage and conversion using technologies such as iron fuel. By considering these options not in isolation but as parts of a single energy system, new flexibility can emerge.
In the BACH innovation project (Brainport Approach for a Congestion-free Holland), grid operators, research institutions, and technology companies are investigating how electricity, heat, natural gas, hydrogen, and other energy carriers can be managed as one integrated energy system. The Eindhoven University of Technology campus serves as the testbed for BACH. Within the project, Technolution and Phase to Phase are working on two closely related questions: where can system integration actually add value, and how can such an integrated energy system subsequently be managed?
From electricity management to integrated energy management
Most solutions for grid congestion currently focus on flexibility within the electricity system. For example, by running energy-intensive machinery outside peak hours or charging electric vehicles when solar generation is highest. Such measures help, but they remain limited to the power grid.
BACH takes a broader approach. The project investigates how different energy carriers can be used together to create a balanced energy system. The question is not only how electrical peaks can be reduced, but how much additional capacity can become available when energy, storage, and conversion options are used in combination. This can be relevant, for example, on a campus, business park, or industrial site where growth or sustainability efforts are constrained by available grid capacity. Individual installations do not necessarily solve that problem. It is precisely the interaction between electricity, heat, storage, conversion, and operational processes that can create new options.
A building, for example, does not always have to be heated electrically. If a heat network is available at the same time, that may be the better option. A surplus of electricity could perhaps be stored or converted into another energy carrier for later use. The best choice always depends on many factors, including available grid capacity, technical options, costs, weather forecasts, energy demand, and, of course, the interests of users and grid operators. BACH investigates how an overarching energy management system can bring all these factors together and coordinate and optimize the use of different energy carriers.
The TU/e campus as a testbed
On the TU/e campus, existing energy systems and new experimental technologies come together. In addition to buildings, charging infrastructure, and battery storage, these include thermal energy storage, iron fuel technology, and technologies for producing and storing alternative energy carriers.
Together with other parties, Technolution is developing and validating a multi-commodity energy management system (MC-EMS) in this environment, connecting the various installations and energy flows. The MC-EMS must take the specific characteristics of each installation into account. The challenge goes beyond simply connecting systems on a technical level. A battery responds almost instantly, whereas a building, heat network, or conversion process has much slower dynamics. Installations also cannot be controlled without limits: comfort, production, safety, and other operational requirements constrain their flexibility. Technolution is investigating how such a digital control layer can account for these differences while making decisions about energy consumption, storage, conversion, and available grid capacity.
Because the entire TU/e campus serves as a testbed for the BACH project, expectations and assumptions can be tested in practice. The project brings together theoretical models, software, and physical installations. After all, flexibility that looks attractive in a model may not actually be available or usable in practice.
What is optimal locally is not automatically optimal for the power grid
The interests of the grid operator play an important role here. The grid operator considers available grid capacity, impending congestion, and the reliability of the power grid as a whole.
A local energy system might, for example, decide to charge a battery because doing so is advantageous at that particular moment. If multiple systems make similar decisions, however, they may actually place additional load on the power grid.
Within BACH, Technolution is therefore investigating how local energy systems can take the grid operator’s possibilities and constraints into account, for example through capacity limits, price signals, or other control signals. This creates a connection between local energy assets, the operational processes that require energy, and the constraints set by the grid operator.
From design to operational control
Together with TU/e, Phase to Phase is investigating how the effects of different energy carriers and conversion technologies can be modeled and how these technologies can be scaled up. An impact analysis tool is intended to provide insight into locations where system integration can genuinely unlock additional grid capacity. It uses grid data, asset data, customer profiles, and the interactions between energy carriers to calculate potential solutions for specific bottlenecks. Realistic modeling of newer, non-electric technologies is crucial in this process.
Not every location offers the same possibilities. A solution that works on a campus is not automatically suitable for a business park, residential area, or industrial site. While Phase to Phase helps investigate where particular combinations offer potential, Technolution focuses on how such an integrated energy system can subsequently be controlled in operation. Together, these activities connect energy system analysis with its practical deployment.
Investigating what actually provides flexibility
On paper, a great deal of energy consumption appears flexible. In practice, the situation is more complex. An installation may theoretically be controllable but offer little usable flexibility because of warm-up times, related processes, or operational requirements. Nor does a technically viable solution automatically have a viable business case.
This is precisely why validation in practice is important. BACH must not only demonstrate what is possible, but also reveal where technical, economic, or organizational limits lie.
For future users, this is an important distinction. A battery, heat network, hydrogen installation, or other technology is not in itself a solution to grid congestion. Its value emerges when it becomes clear what role that asset can play within the energy system as a whole.
How much flexibility is really available in an energy system?
Ultimately, BACH investigates how much additional capacity can become available when different energy carriers and forms of flexibility are considered as one system. This creates a different starting point for organizations facing the limits of their electricity connection or local infrastructure.
The question then does not have to be only: how do we obtain more electricity capacity? An equally relevant question is: what energy infrastructure and flexibility do we already have, and how can we make better use of them together?
For campuses, business parks, industrial sites, and other complex energy systems, this broader perspective can reveal new directions for solutions. Within BACH, Technolution and Phase to Phase investigate, model, build, and validate these interactions in practice. This provides an increasingly clear picture of what can actually be applied when existing solutions are no longer sufficient.
