Research to aid smart urban energy planning

The project Flexibility for Smart Urban Energy Systems, FlexSUS, is one element in the EU’s aspiration to stimulate municipalities to achieve their sustainable development goals. It is also an objective to highlight good examples of how a city or region can work in a smart and efficient manner with issues related to sustainability and energy.

AI-based decision support

“We have an important role to play, since LiU is responsible for developing the very core of FlexSUS – the AI-based decision-support platform. We will construct a flexible and intelligent solution for analysis of the local energy system. This platform will be a tool for decision-makers in questions such as how smart energy systems are to be developed, operated and maintained”, says Yang Liu, associate professor in the Division of Environmental Technology and Management.

The sustainable development goals that are to be included in the platform concern not only reducing carbon dioxide emissions, but also social, economic, behavioural and cultural aspects.

Coordinated by the Technical University of Denmark

The complete FlexSUS project will receive total external funding of EUR 1.5 million, where LiU’s share is EUR 0.35 million (approximately SEK 3.8 million). Associate Professor Yang Liu is head of the project at LiU, which will also employ one full-time doctoral student. In addition to LiU, participants include researchers from the Technical University of Denmark, Chalmers University of Technology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and municipalities and companies in Denmark and Sweden. In Linköping, for example, Linköping Municipality and Tekniska verken will participate in the project.

FlexSUS is part of ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems, financed by the Horizon 2020 programme. In Sweden, the Swedish Energy Agency provides the funding.

Translated by George Farrants