Annex 31

Further research is needed to develop efficient and reliable design approaches and operating strategies for storage in conjunction with thermal and electrical energy produced on-site in buildings and districts, and to support intermittency in the external grid. Previous annexes have dealt with some issues in this area. ECES Annex 7 evaluated various strategies for energy storage control and operation for industrial and building applications, but focused only on cold storage. ECES Annex 19 dealt with the optimization and improvement of industrial process heat and power generation with thermal energy storage techniques, but focused only on high temperature applications. ECES Annex 23 deals with the application of energy storage to various types of EEBs, but focused mainly on the development of simulation tools and not on the integration, and development of control strategies. ECES Annex 24 mainly focused on the development of advanced materials and systems for the compact storage of thermal energy.

Research in the area of design and analysis of energy efficient buildings and districts is inherently interdisciplinary. The current research approach to energy efficiency, though multidisciplinary in principle, is hindered by the lack of effective tools, methodologies, and demonstrations that address interdisciplinary aspects of the effective integration of storage in buildings and districts. In addition, the concept of energy use and storage integration with renewable energy technologies for buildings and districts requires not only integration and optimization but also accurate forecasting and controls to predict and react to future energy demand as well. For example, weather forecasts and building dynamics can be integrated into the energy management system to improve predictions of renewable energy generation and expected electrical, heating and cooling demands. This allows an appropriate orchestration of energy conversion systems and storage to maximise overall performance. This objective can be subdivided into five specific objectives: A.To assess the technical potential and total performance of energy storage systems in energy efficient buildings and districts. B.To develop methods and tools to evaluate and optimize the total performance (energy, environmental, and economical) of whole systems. C.To develop efficient and advanced control algorithms and/or strategies for the operation of whole systems, for different climatic conditions and energy markets, D.To develop and provide design guidelines for integrating energy storage into energy efficient buildings and districts, E.To demonstrate and disseminate the knowledge and experience acquired in this Annex through case studies and validated demonstration projects.