Smart, connected and sustainable

28.02.2025

Source: E & M powernews

A 300-hectare model district is being built in Braunschweig to transform the urban heating and cooling supply.

The heating and cooling supply for Braunschweig's Bahnstadt district is to be climate-neutral, reliable and secure. Under the project name "C2T - Connect2Transform", a wide range of sustainable energy infrastructure technologies are to be tested and networked in the 300-hectare model district. The standards and interfaces developed in the process will then also be available to other cities for their heat transition solutions.

On the one hand, numerous technologies, products and services that are already available will be used, including heat pumps, photovoltaic systems and building automation systems as well as smart home applications and e-mobility charging infrastructure.

On the other hand, large heat pumps and wastewater heat pumps will play a key role in the long-term development of the energy infrastructure, according to the project's homepage. Together with seasonal heat storage systems, these should ensure the base load of the heat supply. The system is to be supplemented by hydrogen electrolysers that convert surplus renewable electricity into storable hydrogen. The resulting waste heat is also to be fed into the heating network.

No waiting for "technical miracle solutions"

The individual components are to be networked with the help of the C2T platform "syna.x" from Synavision GmbH. This is according to a recent announcement from the company. As a "digital backbone", the platform will enable secure communication between the various systems. The software is to be completed by 2027 and will then manage monitoring and control tasks for properties with a total gross floor area of around one million square meters.

To this end, the C2T team is working with various manufacturers whose products range from large heat pumps, hydrogen electrolysis and seasonal heat storage systems to balcony power plants, battery storage systems and charging stations, as well as smart heating valves and household appliances.

"We don't have to wait for miracle technical solutions or legal regulations. There are already many outstanding innovative products that make buildings and cities more sustainable and economical," says Stefan Plesser, Project Manager and Managing Director of Synavision. "We are delighted to be able to contribute our software platform to the project as an operating system for the smart city in order to intelligently link the various systems."

In addition to Synavision, the SIZ Energieplus, TU Braunschweig and RWTH Aachen as well as the city of Braunschweig, the energy supplier BS Energy and companies such as Ochsner Process Energy Systems GmbH (OPES), Cubos GmbH and MBS GmbH are involved in the project.

The initial three-year concept phase of the project is part of the 7th Energy Research Program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and is supported as part of the "Climate-neutral heating and cooling" funding call. The project is scheduled to open on March 11, 2025.

Author: Katia Meyer-Tien