Wind and solar energy, hydropower and other means of renewable energy should ensure our energy production in a climate-neutral and sustainable manner. A key challenge for their efficient use is the integration of renewable energy into the existing electricity grids. The success of an energy turnaround depends on the optimal coordination between energy production and consumption.

Possible solutions are to be found in the funding program “Smart Energy Showcases - Digital Agenda for the Energy Transition” (SINTEG) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). Fraunhofer FOKUS participates as part of the joint project WindNODE.

The main goal of the WindNODE project is to establish a model region for intelligent electric energy in northeastern Germany. With political support from the six northern German states as well as Poland, about 50 partners are working on a solution within four years.

As part of the WindNODE project, Fraunhofer FOKUS supports the digitization of the increasingly decentralized energy system with the development of ICT services. These services enable the actors to communicate, secure data exchange and the orchestration of services. For this purpose, a data and service market will be set up that includes a security concept and enables secure access to data and services via a portal as well as standardized interfaces.

Furthermore, an Open Data portal for energy data and a data anonymization tool will be developed in order to increase the availability of energy-related Open Data. The proposed extension to the industry standard VHPready should enable an improved use of decentralized flexibilities.

Project partners range from energy suppliers, network operators and high-tech specialists and also include companies in the automotive, supply and disposal, housing and retail sectors as well as universities and research institutes in the region.