Internet der Energie

Abstract

Since the appearance of the special focus of "IT in the Utilities Industry" (WI 49) in the journal WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK in autumn 2007, a dynamic development has taken place in the field. The ongoing effects of liberalization and the accelerated development of renewable energies have driven sustainable market changes leading to a transformation of the industry. In parallel, the research program E-Energy of the Federal German Government started in 2008. Within this framework, projects in six model regions applied novel concepts and conducted systematic empirical research with extensive field trials. The federal research program in the field of infrastructure and processes for electric mobility also played an important role in the research landscape of the recent years. But the biggest driver was the political development of the recent months. In fall 2010, the German Federal Government presented its energy strategy. Renewable energy sources played a central role in the approach, but also the use of nuclear energy was laid down as a "bridge technology" for the next two decades. The nuclear disaster in Fukushima triggered a reassessment of the situation, and the amendment to the Atomic Energy Act sealed the decision for an accelerated phase out of nuclear energy. The Bundestag passed the act on 30 June 2011 with a large majority and concluded a discussion which in Germany had become part of the political debate over the last three decades. The related amendment to the Energy Industry Act on 28 July 2011 completed the political decision to change the energy system. This transformation of the energy system includes a number of factors and parameters. Production, transportation, storage and consumption of energy can be distinguished on the side of the primary technologies. The overall system spans over different scales-from gigawatts in large power plants, high voltage grids and large consumers (such as aluminum plants) over megawatts in generation sites for municipalities and industrial plants down to the kilowatt scale in distribution grids, domestic cogenera-tion of heat and power, and photovoltaic systems. Consequently, a wide range of devices and infrastructures already exists. Information and communication technologies have been used for decades to technically operate these systems, to control the equipment, to monitor the technical status and for automated or manual intervention in emergency situations. In addition to the technical IT, information systems have been set up to implement core business processes. They include asset management and maintenance applications for facilities and infrastructures as well as billing engines and systems that enable services rendered by the utility companies. With the changes in the energy system, the ICT stack must be reconsidered to meet the changing requirements of the future. The open system integration of the energy landscape of tomorrow must be built on an adequate ICT infrastructure. In this context, the term "Internet of Energy" has been proposed. The metaphor states: just as the Internet joins together all computers based on a set of open standards and protocols, all components of the future energy system (producers, grids, storage, and consumers) can be connected on the basis of standardized open architectures. The well-known keyword "Smart Grid" refers to a similar context. In fact, the mentioned amendment to the Energy Act from summer 2011 contains a number of aspects that have to do directly with this topic. Inter alia, the Energy Act provides a framework for the integration of switchable loads (§ 13 paragraph 4a EnWG-E), mentions secure, efficiency-oriented smart metering (§ § 21b-i EnWG-E) as well as variable tariffs and interruptible consumption devices (§ 40 V, § 14 aEnWG-E), and finally describes an energy information system among grid operators (§ 12 paragraph 4 EnWG-E). Although many of these topics still have to be operationalized and Business & Information Systems Engineering 1|2012 1