Have you ever heard of the blockchain? This information storage and transmission technology operates without a central control body and could revolutionize our energy system.

At a time of self-consumption of energy and the development of smart grids, the blockchain offers a new energy management system, intelligent and at the service of local actors. Distributed and secure recording and storage of energy flows, energy certification and verification, real-time monitoring and diagnosis of energy consumption, remuneration in real or virtual currency… the list of possible applications in the energy world is long.

This topic has been explored during the City-zen Days in Grenoble early 2018.

In the Netherlands, natural gas in the building environment will be phased out by 2050. Stakeholders, including the social housing corporations, are faced with an enormous challenge: the conversion from a central-organized natural gas-based energy system to an energy system in which dwellings can be heated without natural gas and clean energy is used for all residential purposes. In order to support the transition, multiple solutions will come into play, including all-electric.

Based on the outcomes of interviews with housing corporations and the municipality of Amsterdam, it was clear that there is a need for more insight into all-electric solutions as an option for heating houses. The current knowledge base at the housing corporations lacks the ability to properly assess all-electric.

The Green Solutions Awards 2018 winners were revealed in Katowice, a Polish mining town that made the shift to commit to the energy transition and COP24 theatre. The Construction21 network, organiser of the contest, rewarded the winning teams during a ceremony that gathered nearly 200 industry professionals from all around the world.

Among the awarded teams: a building connected to the geothermal network of Presqu’ile area (one of the Grenoble’s demonstrations) won a price in “smart building” category ; Copenhagen (Jorgen Abildgaard from the City is a member of our advisory board) won the Sustainable Infrastructure Grand Prize for its public lightning.

On the occasion of the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC), Hespul has published a study on «Spatial representation of low-voltage network hosting capacity for photovoltaic roof-top installations using an open-source tool». For this work, two areas of investigation have been chosen in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region (France) including Grenoble-Alpes Metropole within the European Commission funded FP7-City-zen. A look back at this study with Nicolas Lebert, smart grid project manager at Hespul.

Starting the thermal renovation of a condominium requires the condominium owners to agree collectively: the work is expensive and collective decision-making is not simple! As part of City-zen, the Local Energy and Climate Agency of the Grenoble metropolitan area – ALEC, wanted to experiment with a new intervention format to help those who hesitate to take their decision.

MOVE is a mobility event that brings together disruptors, their technology and their attitude with stakeholders across all modes and disciplines: to dialogue, to create insight and to promote collaboration. Marisca Zweistra, project leader of our Vehicle-to-Grid pilot will be speaking at the event and share valuable lessons learned. With the event’s focus on disruption matching our project’s innovative approach, this is something mobility experts can’t afford to miss.

This event is a major opportunity to gather the actors of the Grenoble territory who are working for the transition, whether it is democratic, environmental, social and economic.

Visits of City-zen demos are on the agenda: extension of the DHN in Flaubert proposed by CCIAG and CEA, self-consumption solar plant proposed by ALEC, collective geothermal network in Presqu’ile area by InnoVia.

www.cityzen-smartcity.eu

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