Fourth working meeting

The fourth working meeting took place in Freiburg, Germany on March 15-17, 2017. The meeting was attended by 47 participants from 16 countries. The meeting was hosted by FraunhoferISE.

The main purpose of the work was to report on ongoing work and to allow more thorough discussions on important topics of Energy Flexibility in buildings:

• definition, terminology and characterization of Energy Flexibility in buildings
• simulation test bed and archetypes of buildings
• common exercises
• barriers and motivation for stakeholders

Definition, terminology and characterization:an article titled Energy Flexible Buildings: A review of definitions and quantification methodologies has been submitted to Energy and Buildings. The review conducted shows that although definitions in the literature have their particularities, they are based on the same principle, namely that energy flexibility is the ability to shift energy. A report with a thorough investigation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been drafted and will be finalized, but held open for new KIPs developed during the cause of Annex 67.

Simulation test bed and archetypes of buildings: one important challenge in the Annex is to ensure comparability of different approaches to obtain flexibility and for comparing of results from simulation models.

Specific input parameters (e.g. type, dimension and quality of building) and results (efficiency-and flexibility KPIs) from the modelling teams are collected in order to set up a cross-comparison between different approaches, buildings and technologies.

Common exercises: in order to better understand the term Energy Flexibility in buildings a series of common exercises have been undertaken. The common exercises have shown how participants of Annex 67 perform their investigations on Energy Flexibility in buildings.

Barriers and motivation for stakeholders: an article titled: Are building users prepared for energy flexible buildings? -A large-scale survey in the Netherlands has been submitted to Applied Energy. The survey show that few have knowledge about Smart Grid, but when the concept is briefly explained many are positive towards being Energy Flexible. A questionnaire for office building has been developed and a survey are being carried out in The Netherlands, UK, Italy and Denmark