Digital Twin of Campus Lichtwiese

The objective is an optimization of a multi-modal energy system for operation and for a future system design. For this purpose, a virtual comprehensive model of the energy system of the Lichtwiese campus, a so-called “digital twin”, is to be developed. The realization of a holistic optimization of a highly complex energy system across all forms of energy shall be shown. Current and future energy systems must meet the requirements of the energy transition, such as increased flexibility and variability in production and consumption, in order to achieve lower CO2 emissions.

The digital twin as a model predictive control requires comprehensive data of the system's components and the system's status. For this purpose, a comprehensive energy monitoring system is being set up in this subproject, which will gather the production and consumption of heat, cold and electrical energy on the campus. The temporal resolution is far below the legal requirements. Electrical energy is monitored every second and thermal energy every 30 seconds. This high resolution is important in order to adequately determine operating states and the dynamics of system components such as storage or generation components. In addition, machine learning methods will be used to evaluate parameters of such components, such as the efficiency of the system's combined heat generation depending on the systems' heat load, in order to improve the model quality. Furthermore, forecast models will be developed which provide short-term forecasts of the load profiles of all different consumers. The aim is thus to propose a continuous optimal operating strategy for all controllable components in the energy system on the basis of the collected and calculated data.

The Lichtwiese campus is of higher interest as a research object, since in addition to electrical energy, thermal energy is also required in the form of heat and cold. Furthermore, for all forms of energy dedicated grid exist. Several combined heat and power plants, gas boilers, absorption and compression coolers generate the needed energy. The campus thus forms a full multimodal energy system. In addition, there is a high diversity on the demand side due to the different types of consumers, such as plain offices buildings, energy-intensive research facilities or unique lecture buildings.