The small Swedish village of Simris, population of around 200 people, is today a 100% renewable energy community. It uses an innovate system to provide locally generated power by combining solar panels, wind turbines, battery energy storage, smart energy management and a fully committed citizen energy community.
The project enabled the villagers of Simris to generate and store their own green power, creating a community of self-sufficient and engaged energy users.
The establishment of the Simris energy community was driven by e.on, the energy provider, to pilot a new way of providing energy in Sweden.
The battery energy storage systems were provided, to store locally produced power for when there was a surplus and to supply villagers with this green power whenever it is needed and cannot be produced, such as at night. In addition, the battery storage used also helps to balance the grid which forms the backbone of the community. At the heart of the project was the desire to create an enthusiastic citizen energy community of prosumers – meaning villagers who are both producers and consumers of the locally generated renewable power.
The energy system in Simris could run on up to 100% renewable power generated by local PV and wind turbines – if necessary even in island mode, with no connection to the main grid. This distinguishes Simris from every other energy system in the world. Moreover, its existence proves the possibility of a completely self-sufficient and sustainable energy system already today.
Furthermore, the knowledge and insights gained from the Interflex project in Simris provided the foundation for several innovation projects across Europe. Due to the success of the Simris project, we can now connect large PV systems to our electricity grids far faster and more cost-effectively – thus accelerating energy transition.
In addition, the energy community in Simris serves as a best practice example. The Simris villagers understood how important the use of renewable power is for a sustainable energy transition. Moreover, whether as consumers, producers, or prosumers of locally generated, renewable power each of them contributed to the village’s transition.
In addition to providing the fully renewable, off-grid electricity system, the Simris project also has a fully transparent online energy monitor, so members of the energy community, and the general public, can monitor energy production and usage in real-time. This allows residents to make responsible decisions about their energy consumption.
The real-time energy tracker is available at : http://les.eon.se/
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https://www.eon.com/en/innovation/innovation-frontline/success-stories/simris.html