Team

Florens Schwendowius Pius Burkhard

Type

Bachelor Thesis in Interaction Design @HFG Schwäbisch Gmünd 2023

Supervisor

Prof. Benedikt Groß Prof. David Oswald

Collaborations

Fej BEG Revolusun

About the Project

For our Bachelor's thesis, we addressed the question of how to accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources. The project was divided into two phases: a strategic phase and a creative phase. During the strategic phase, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews to identify key issues. During the creative phase, we addressed one of these issues and developed a solution.

Final results:

Co:nnect is a digital platform that makes it easier to participate in energy-sharing communities. Members can easily purchase green electricity from their community or sell their self-generated renewable energy back to it. Members can also invest in local renewable energy projects and access all the important data about their community in an easy-to-understand format. The result is a solution that empowers citizens to take control of their energy future.

"We want to enable citizens to be part of the energy transition even without their own roof and large amounts of capital."

Connect app interface showing energy pricing — .

Energy cooperatives have already laid the groundwork for citizens to invest in renewable energy sources. Energy sharing would allow these communities to distribute the electricity they generate directly to their members, rather than feeding it entirely into the grid.

Although citizens have successfully come together to form a community and finance and operate power plants, they face a frustrating paradox: they cannot use the green electricity they produce locally directly. Currently, all community-generated electricity must be fed into the national power grid at the legally mandated rate of just 6–9 cents per kWh.

While this covers the cost of the power plant and generates modest profits, it falls far short of the true market value of electricity. Meanwhile, these same community members have to buy electricity from the grid at the standard consumer rate of 40 cents per kWh — more than four times what they are paid for their own production. Energy Sharing would change this.

Connect app screens showing various features

“Energy Cooporative + Energy Sharing = Energy Community?”

Citizens face high barriers to entry and participation. Citizens could finance 35 percent of Germany's renewable energy expansion target for 2030.

There are no incentives for a rapid expansion of renewable energies at the regional level, as locally generated energy from photovoltaic plants and wind farms is more expensive than energy from a faraway power plant that runs on fossil fuels.

Members of these communities can use the new interface to invest directly in: renewable energies and thus finance cheap and green electricity for the community! organized power grid. Due to fluctuations in electricity production from renewable sources and changing demand, electricity prices in the energy community also fluctuate, changing every quarter of an hour.

The app provides an overview of all the key information on flexible electricity prices, electricity consumption and the energy community. It also enables users to engage with the community through polls and events.

Energy sharing animation — Website of the Energy Community

The co:nnect platform serves as a comprehensive dashboard, displaying real-time flexible electricity prices, personal consumption data and community insights all in one intuitive interface. As well as monitoring energy usage, the platform fosters community engagement.

This holistic approach shows how future energy communities can combine technical energy management with social participation to create successful energy-sharing networks that benefit individuals and the collective community.

Concept clip

Trends in energy prices for the past, present and future.

energy flow visualization — Energy flow visualization

Screens of the Energy community — Energy community

Your year in Co:nnect

Energy year in review — Annual energy consumption and community impact rewind

The whole Work breakdown structure — Work breakdown structure