On 5-7 November 2024 thousands of people flocked to Barcelona for the Smart Cities Expo World Congress to learn and share how to 'live better' - the motto of this year's event. BIPED was also there to offer its vision. Partners from DTU, OASC, DRI, KPMG, RoadTwin, University of West Bohemia, DKSR and VCS engaged in a variety of activities (panel presentations, booth discussions, networking) to share the BIPED story with the world.
The story
Even though no city has yet reached climate neutrality, that holy grail of energy transition is pushing local stakeholders to test innovative concepts and tools to "get there" by 2030. LDT4PED is a new approach pioneered by Aarhus to bring the power of Local Digital Twins (LDT) and Positive Energy Districts (PED) to bear on net-zero ambitions. What does it mean?
PEDs produce more energy than they consume by tapping into local renewable sources, be they solar, wind, or geothermal. The prosumer model allows citizens and businesses to play a role in achieving this surplus. They can return excess energy to the grid from their EVs or storage batteries, or trade green electricity as part of an energy community.
LDT is more than the 3D visual of a city. The version created for Aarhus has public-facing tools that local residents/companies can use to assess solar potential of their rooftop - is it worth installing photovoltaic panels or not? For policy makers, LDT offers a virtual sandbox to test measures across energy, transport, and the built environment that yield optimal results for PED development and reaching net zero emissions.
LDT4PED is being created for the Brabrand district of Aarhus. The solution boasts an initial LDT prototype which will be further refined with input from a growing PED community, which includes the municipality, utility company (Kredsløb), consultancy firm (DEKRA), environmental non-profit (NRGI), and the energy community (Sol over Brabrand).
The long-term plan is to extend the Brabrand PED to other parts of Aarhus, and to offer the mature LDT solution to other cities in Europe that want to embark on an ambitious district transformation that is green, digital, and just.
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