Finished projects

Göteborg Energi has installed smart electricity meters with switches. The smart meters are used to monitor and control the amount of ampere being sent via the electrical wires. Göteborg Energi is one of a few companies that have installed meters with switches. This project aims to investigate the opportunities for the electricity customer and the utility having this function.

Switches in electricity meters can for example give customers the possibility to contribute to the power balancing in the electricity grid and contribute to the overall power balancing reserve. This could in turn support in avoiding disturbances in the electricity delivery due to insufficient production capacity when the use is at its highest. To have the possibility to control the effect for the customers depending on the situation in the electricity grid, provides opportunities to optimize the planning of the grid. The new opportunities having this new feature is not fully explored and this project will investigate the role of switches in the future electricity grid. Therefore, the project will analyze the needs and functions that will face the future switches and meters.   

Read more about the project in the news item Smart meters can secure electricty to important services.

HVDC technology means high voltage direct current that allows transmission of electrical energy for long distances with low losses compared to conventional alternating voltage (AV) technology. Göteborg Energi is building an HVDC-plant in connection to the 4 MW wind turbine that were built during fall 2011 at Risholmen in Göteborg. The wind turbine is constructed to fit offshore wind power. The turbine and the HVDC-plant are part of a bigger project where the overall objective is to technically demonstrate, verify and evaluate properties of a wind turbine at the scale of 4 MW.

 

The HVDC-plant results in the unique opportunity to test that the wind turbine meets all the requirements that network owners impose on a wind turbine. This particularly applies to the operation of voltage dips and different frequencies. The HVDC system is also suitable for testing other electrical equipment and its ability to be connected to and resist interference from the grid.

Correctly processed data from advanced meetering infrastracture (AMI) provide valuable, timely information on the electricity grid. The project aims to develop and evaluate methods for (i) alerts relating to events such as alarms, loss of energy or fraud, and to (ii) validate and gather readings of energy consumption to extract information for planning and operation.

In the world today an ongoing development of smart grid and smart district heating network is in progress. This project investigates the link between the two energy systems. To see the two systems as a coherent energy system at an early stage and not as two separate systems, one can avoid getting into a situation where the two energy systems have been optimized on their own merits and not for optimum functioning in interaction.

Read more about the project in the news item Thermal energy storage in buildings makes district heating more climate friendly.

New legislation, rising energy prices and greenhouse issues are all factors that contribute to an increased role for renewable electricity generation that can be integrated into existing buildings. The project will provide suggestions for how building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) can be used to improve the overall economy (life cycle cost) for new construction and refurbishment in Sweden.

The project will create conditions for:

Read more about the PhD project here: Låt fasader och tak göra jobbet (in Swedish)

The energy used in buildings contributes to a significant part of Sweden’s energy consumption. Fortunately, district heating offers potential for energy efficiency in buildings and thus could and should play an important role in a future sustainable society. Yet, for an energy system to be as efficient as possible, it is required that the residents themselves approve the system and voluntarily adopt energy efficient behaviour patterns. Through applying a user-centred design approach to address the residents’ attitudes, knowledge and behaviours, new solutions for sustainable energy use can be designed that visualise the positive aspects of district heating, encourage energy efficient utilisation and fit to the residents’ lifestyles. With focus on human needs of the users, new design solution will be investigated to improve the efficiency of the energy system.

Read more about the PhD-project here: Design ska hjälpa oss förstå fjärrvärmen (in Swedish)

Anaerobic digestion is an established technology for the recovery of chemical energy from e.g. wastewater and manure as biogas. Although a proven technology, research is required to increase biogas yields and productivity. The overall aim of the project is to acquire a deeper understanding of the processes taking place in anaerobic digestion of manure and food waste, while increasing the biogas yield and production rate of a full scale thermophilic digester of Göteborg Energi located in Sävsjö.

The plug-in hybrid electric bus (PHEV) transportation challenge concerns decisions on the design of the electric charging infrastructure and the sizing of the PHEV powertrain. The goal of this project is to find the optimal cost effective solution to this problem, which can be addressed by simultaneous optimization of the cost from charging stations, battery sizing and energy management strategy for the PHEVs. The PHEV transportation problem is to be solved by simulating a PHEV powertrain model over suitable bus lines in Göteborg.

Since 2009, Göteborg Energi, has a system for automatic meter reading for facilities with a current of less than 63 A. The system manages the collection of about 270 000 facilities and uses a radio based technology.

The introduction of this advanced meter reading infrastructure results in large volumes of data associated with the electricity grid. With appropriate processing and interpretation, these data can be used to support resource planning, fault tolerance and adaptability of the network. With the right information at hand you can for example:

One aim of the project is to create an understanding of how network operations can be influenced and optimized and to develop algorithms and methods to manage and control the network in order to minimize solutions that require intervention in the hardware.

The project aims to clarify the conditions for including the ability to evaluate alternative fuel sources in ongoing projects with the next generation of Västtrafik´s river vessels. Concrete goal of the project is to investigate the feasibility of using a future river vessel (Älvpendel) as a test platform for new technology.

Environmental and sustainability information is an important part of sustainability efforts in business and public sectors. To have a standardized form and a certification of data are essential to be able to use the information.

For a long time industry has not seen maritime transport as a prioritized part of a product´s life cycle. Recently, however, interest has increased, mainly due to the fact that maritime transport in total makes up a large part of Swedish import and that consumers/customers are demanding recognition of the overall environmental impact of products.

Today there are various different indices and attempts at standardization. In the project an inventory and evaluation of existing indices are performed. The project result will represent a starting point in order to be able to evaluate different indices concerning specified uses and users.