Model City of Mannheim

The Model city of Mannheim project concentrates on an urban conurbation with a high penetration rate in which renewable and decentralized sources of energy are used to a large extent. Within the framework of the E-Energy project, a representative large-scale trial is being conducted both here and in Dresden to demonstrate the project can be applied and translated to other regions. The trial uses new methods to improve energy efficiency, grid quality, and the integration of renewable and decentralized sources of energy into the urban distribution network. The focus is on developing a cross-sectoral approach (involving electricity, heating, gas and water) to interconnect the consumption components with a broadband powerline infrastructure.

Electricity is offered to customers close to the point of generation and directly when the power is generated. This avoids transporting power (and associated power loss), and includes the use of decentralized energy storage units. Proactive users in the energymarket ("prosumers") can gear their power consumption and their power generation towards variable pricing structures. Furthermore, real-time information and energy management components also aim to help the customer contribute to even greater energy efficiency.

Consortium:

MVV Energie AG
DREWAG - Stadtwerke Dresden GmbH
IBM Deutschland GmbH
Power PLUS
Communications AG
Papendorf Software Engineering GmbH
University of Duisburg-Essen
ISET - Verein an der Universität Kassel e.V.
ifeu Heidelberg GmbH
IZES gGmbH