Page 72 - Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

1 Introduction

1.1 Background
The PowerMatching concept was implemented in Groningen, in the Netherlands, as a demonstration project
of a future energy-infrastructure called PowerMatching City. Twenty-five households with smart appliances,
such as micro-combined-heat-power systems that match their energy use in real time based upon the
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available energy generation, were connected. PowerMatching City is, first and foremost, the European field
trial to connect supply and demand of electricity and heat in an intelligent way (smart grids). The purpose of
the ongoing project is to fully profit from characteristics of both centralized and renewable energy systems.
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The PowerMatching concept also helps cater to one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 7 .

1.2 Challenge and response
According to various EU projections, in the next twenty years, households will obtain an increasing part of
their energy requirements from renewable and/or local resources. The smart grid is the most promising
solution for the issues caused by increased electrification and the large-scale introduction of distributed
power generation in the power system. The smart grid offers several significant advantages. First, it allows
for two-way communication, which enables demand and response. Secondly, domestic power generation is
a key component, which makes the end user both a producer and a consumer, or a prosumer, of electric
power. In a smart grid, prosumers are both incentivized and empowered to contribute to the balance of
power supply and demand in the system. Thirdly, by producing power locally, smart grids also minimize
transmission cost, as energy is lost in the power network transmission lines. Matching supply and demand at
a local level therefore can be used to minimize the losses from transportation; this is a feature of the smart
grid which offers both economic and environmental gains.
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2 The project(s)

2.1 Vision and content

The PowerMatching City project was created to reply to questions such as:
(a) How can we accelerate energy transition?
(b) How can we stimulate consumers to take action?; and
(c) How can we ensure that the new energy system will be sustainable, affordable and reliable?

Its aim was to give the transition to a sustainable energy system the best chance of success by actively
involving consumers and letting them contribute to the transition. The project team was convinced that
once participants have experienced how to live sustainably at home, they will use this knowledge in their
work as well, and this could accelerate the desired energy transition considerably.

2.2 Implementation

PowerMatching City is a living lab demonstration of the future energy system, located in Groningen in The
Netherlands. In PowerMatching City the connected households have smart appliances that match their
energy use in real time, depending on the available (renewable) generation.

39 Power supply–demand balance in a Smart Grid: An information sharing model for a market mechanism”, Applied
Mathematical Modelling 38, 2014.
40 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
41 Power supply–demand balance in a Smart Grid: An information sharing model for a market mechanism”, Applied
Mathematical Modelling 38, 2014.

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