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INNERGY – Universität Innsbruck

Inntalfurche - Implementation examples of the flexibilisation of energy systems (INNERGY lead project)

Project manager overall project: Wolfgang Streicher (UIBK Energy Efficient Building)

Project manager University of Innsbruck: Wolfgang Streicher

Project deputy: Alexander Thür

Project staff: Alexander Thür, Sandra Forndran, Luca Vittorio Valentini

Project partner:

  • alpS GmbH (Innrain 11, 6020 Innsbruck)
  • Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft m.b.H (Trabrennstraße 2c, 1020 Vienna)
  • Energieagentur Tirol GmbH (Leopoldstraße 3, 6020 Wilten)
  • HALLAG Kommunal GmbH (Augasse 6, 6060 Hall i.T.)
  • INNIO Jenbacher GmbH & Co OG (Achenseestraße 1-3, 6200 Jenbach)
  • Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe Aktiengesellschaft (Salurner Straße 11, 6020 Innsbruck)
  • MCI Management Center Innsbruck - Internationale Hochschule GmbH (Universitätsstraße 15, 6020 Innsbruck)
  • Stadtwerke Schwaz GmbH (Hermine-Berghofer-Straße 31, 6130 Schwaz, FBN)
  • TIGAS-Erdgas Tirol GmbH (Salurnerstraße 15, 6020 Innsbruck)
  • Tiroler gemeinnützige Wohnungsbau- und Siedlungsgesellschaft m.b.H. (Fürstenweg 27, 6020 Innsbruck)
  • Tirol Kliniken GmbH (Anichstraße 35, 6020 Innsbruck)
  • Tiroler Rohre GmbH (Innsbruckerstraße 51, 6060 Hall/Tyrol)
  • TIWAG-Next Energy Solutions GmbH (Eduard-Wallnöfer-Platz 2, 6020 Innsbruck)

Funding organisation: Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

Funding programme: Living Lab - Energy and environmental technology call for proposals 2022

Total funding: 2,955,255 euros (UIBK: 804,865 euros)

Duration: 01.01.2024 until 31.12.2027

Logo INNERGY

Summary of the programme

The INNERGY lead project is interlinked with the INNERGY InnoLab to INNERGY living lab. It is spatially located in the Inntal valley in the area of Völs via Innsbruck to Jenbach. The aim of the INNERGY living lab is to significantly increase the efficiency and flexibility of the energy supply, especially the heat supply, in the living lab area by linking various stakeholders and existing or planned infrastructures, to further develop new framework conditions and requirements for a 100% renewable energy supply in the future and to test and validate them in concrete implementation projects.

The INNERGY InnoLab is operated as a non-profit organisation and brings together important expertise from regional and scientific organisations as well as energy suppliers and energy consumers in the areas of energy solutions, digital tools and innovation ecosystems. As an "enabler", the InnoLab is intended to develop, accelerate and support implementation projects, secure findings and act as a multiplier for broad application.

The INNERGY lead project comprises nine sub-projects. According to the politically agreed Tirol 2050 strategy and the national requirements, the energy supply should also be 100 % from renewable energy sources for the heating sector. For these boundary conditions, the sub-projects are developing and trialling region-specific solutions in the project. They range from general conceptual design and development of innovative business models and legal solutions to detailed planning, construction and commissioning, monitoring and optimisation of ongoing operations as well as potential future expansions and integration of additional uses. The general timeline of the sub-project processes is represented by the work packages, in which the sub-projects are categorised according to their implementation status.

Landkarte Demoprojekte INNERGY

The sub-projects are spatially located in the Tyrolean Inntal Valley and the lead project operators and scientific partners all come from this region. The living lab region is characterised by a high population density, a large number of small and medium-sized as well as some large commercial and industrial enterprises, a well-developed gas infrastructure and a joint district heating line operated by TIGAS (and partly by Hall AG) from currently Wattens to Innsbruck, which will be extended to Völs/Kematen/Zirl in the future, as well as several smaller district heating networks. The electricity supply is currently 90 % covered by hydropower and 10 % purchased electricity from renewable energy sources, but will change massively in terms of its generation structure (volatile PV and wind power) and significantly higher consumption due to the increased use of heat pumps and e-mobility (possibility of flexibility).

A flexible and efficient heat supply system (generation - transport - storage - consumption) is being developed, tested and evaluated in the sub-projects. Three of these sub-projects each comprise (i) the construction or adaptation and operation of heating networks, (ii) innovative systems for the cascaded and/or coupled supply of heating and cooling to buildings (residential buildings, laboratories, offices, IT centres) with interfaces to heating and electricity networks and (iii) the identification and feed-in of previously unused waste heat potential from industry or hydrogen production or alternative heat sources (waste water, exhaust air, groundwater). The sub-projects each have a different focus.

In all sub-projects, the interaction between stakeholders and infrastructures offers new challenges, but also new opportunities. In addition to technical and digital solutions, legal, social and economic aspects will also be analysed, particularly with a focus on the role of prosumers (alternating feeders and consumers). In addition, the projects will investigate larger heat storage systems to balance heat flows for one to several days (potentially even months) as well as the flexibilisation of consumers. Although increasing the flexibility of feed-in and consumption increases the stability and resilience of the system due to the various technical concepts and larger number of feeders, it requires increased coordination and control effort and possibly even an online digital twin. New partnerships with flexible business models must be developed in order to optimise the interaction between the systems.

INNERGY Projektschema

Through good planning, but also experimentation with and dissemination of innovation in the areas of prosumers, heat and sector coupling, the sub-projects endeavour to generate robust knowledge and trigger impetus for concrete changes. This includes the entire value chain in the heat sector (generation - transport - storage - consumption) in the context of sector coupling. The central aim should therefore be to develop processes and support mechanisms in order to test innovative solutions in real projects. Innovative solutions must include not only technological, but also social and legal innovations. This will lead to a change in the socio-technical energy system including its social practices as a whole.

The 14 partners in the lead project consortium represent important players in the energy supply chain and leading companies in the living lab area and include partners from the energy supply, property sector and industry in addition to scientific experts. The results should provide experience and model solutions for new partnerships and innovative infrastructure and sector couplings that serve as a basis for broad application.

Tasks in the project

Project management, scientific support for the sub-projects, simulation and optimisation of heating networks, district heating system solutions for buildings (AZW FH Gesundheit, IKB), energy concepts for campus technology (UIBK).

 

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