The TROEF project

Demonstrable durability

by using energy when renewable energy is available.

Connecting to the energy community

Accelerating the sustainability transition together makes energy sharing, joint generation and storage possible.

Lower costs

by rewarding users for their contribution to balancing the energy network.

Increased efficiency

when applying sustainable measures.

A New Layered Energy Ecosystem

Optimal energy exchange with the lowest CO2 emissions possible

The demands set for the sustainability of buildings are getting higher and higher, laws are changing and selecting appropriate solutions can be difficult. At the same time, buildings often generate energy themselves. And as a result of new mobility, generating locally and working from home, a building’s energy use is becoming more and more difficult to predict. As a result, we see that the world of sustainable energy generators does not communicate properly with its consumers. This results in an ever-growing imbalance between the supply and demand of energy, which in turn makes it harder to facilitate the transition to sustainability at an acceptable price.

For this reason, TROEF is building a new energy ecosystem in which we use the right energy in the moment that it is available, we make the source of energy demonstrable, and we provide access to a community. As a result, users will be rewarded for their contributions to the energy transition.

Local Energy Community and Internet of Energy platform

TROEF is developing a layered energy ecosystem, consisting of:

LEC Platform

Local Energy Community for the exchange of energy between buildings in a local energy community.

Interfacing Technique

To link buildings to the LE platform.

Internet-of-Energy platform

to connect multiple local energy communities.

Dashboards

Dashboards that display the achieved CO2 reduction, flexibility values, peak reduction, energy use and energy value.

How does TROEF achieve this?

Starting in an area or a single building

A scan provides insight into the current CO2 footprint, energy consumption and costs.

Connecting to the platform

Connecting buildings to the TROEF LEC platform.

Sharing of energy

Sharing energy within the (local) energy communities and with other communities.

Add participants to energy community

Every sustainability measure leads to a benefit for the user and the community.

The Local Energy Platform

How does TROEF achieve this?

The Local Energy Platform

Each local energy community consists of a number of residences and/or utility buildings that are in close physical proximity to each other and has a local energy production and energy demand. Electric vehicles may also be added to these local energy communities, as local assets that contribute to the transport of energy between communities. Within a local energy community, energy can be exchanged between buildings (residences, utility buildings or electric vehicles) through the development of a local energy platform (LE platform). This platform will embed a building into its environment and assign it an active role in the new energy ecosystem.

It will not only allow buildings to exchange any surplus of energy generated with other buildings in the energy community, but will also help regulate a building’s systems in such a way that both the production and the use of energy can be synchronized to the demands for the energy generation and energy use of other buildings in the energy community, and the capacity limits of the electrical grid.

Reduce energy costs and increase your efficiency

TROEF

Reduce energy costs and increase your efficiency

Improving the efficiency of sustainable measures.

Reduction of energy costs.

CO2 reduction

TROEF is committed to an integrated, inclusive proposition in the areas of sustainability, energy exchange, and flexibility. Here, demonstrable sustainability plays an important part: where is my energy coming from? A decentralized blockchain track and trace system enables the exchange of energy and CO2 between all parties participating in TROEF’s layered energy ecosystem. This is a system that would no longer require a central entity that can potentially create barriers through of pricing or preferences for matching. Blockchain technology allows organizations to settle business transactions without a need for a trusted intermediary party (decentralized ecosystem).

The Internet of Energy platform

Local energy communities are connected to each other through an Internet of Energy platform (IoE platform), which allows for a surplus of energy generated to be exchanged with other energy communities and for optimal use of the energy that is available. Within this new energy ecosystem, energy use and energy generation are optimized at three different levels, with the aim of achieving the lowest possible CO2 emissions and energy use, at the lowest possible cost for the entire energy ecosystem.

Optimization of energy use within the building (residential or utility)

This includes operating a building’s systems (such as solar panels, heat pumps, the ATES system, the ventilation system) in coordination with the two other optimization levels and optimizing them for comfort, sustainability, and costs. TROEF is developing the tools and algorithms for this.

Optimization of energy use within a local energy community through the exchange of energy between buildings and utilizing the available electrical mobility, in such a way that the electrical grid remains balanced and congestion is avoided, and the local energy mix becomes more sustainable.

TROEF is developing an LE platform and tools for each type of local energy community, which can be used to connect buildings to each other for the purpose of energy exchanges between them.

Optimization of energy use through the exchange of energy between different local energy communities in Netherlands that have different usage profiles

Establishing a transparent connection between local energy communities opens up the possibility for working out the (local) energy mix at specific times and taking targeted actions to reduce it. Within TROEF, a new IoE platform is in development, which will be connected to the LE platforms described above, and which will be used to conduct energy exchanges, and to track energy flows between local energy communities on the grid, using blockchain technology.