Deutsche Fassung | German Version
The digital solutions for the Missions help us as a landlord and heating company to use financial resources as efficiently as possible. Furthermore, the solutions should help tenants to reduce their living costs.
The challenge is to combine a specific application and a business case in which the energy savings are financially attractive and beneficial to Gewobag and the residents.
One of the goals is to make energy supply data usable through digital applications. The aim is to involve different user groups, such as managers and engineers, when it comes to using energy supply data for their everyday needs. We have prepared six specific missions for which we are looking for solutions.
- Mission #1: Inventory of all heat-generating systems
- Mission #2: Use of information from substations and strings
- Mission #3: Analysis of data from heat-generating systems
- Mission #4: Further digitalisation of heating service providers
- Mission #5:Generating, optimising and providing periodic consumption data
- Mission #6: Developing and running an IoT network with integrated field devices
In addition, there is the possibility to apply with any ideas related to the field for energy efficiency beyond the missions.
Mission #1
Inventory of all heat-generating systems
An inventory provides an overview and improves controllability
Mission #1 deals with improving the management and maintenance of the systems by taking inventory of all heat-generating systems and their components. So far, only metadata such as type, year of construction and boiler performance is available. A detailed inventory should collect additional information, such as condition, wear and servicing requirements to optimise system maintenance and avoid breakdowns.
For this purpose, we are looking for innovative solutions and technologies that will make a comprehensive inventory of the systems possible and in doing so, make an important contribution to increasing efficiency and conserving resources.
Mission #2
Use of information from substations and strings
This mission aims to improve the use of information from substations and strings. Up until now, it has been possible to read data from the main heat generation stations, for which in some cases extra temperature sensors have been installed or the heat meter is used for collecting data. However, this data is not yet digitally recorded in the substations and heating circuits, which are often physically separated from the main station.
The aim of Mission #2 is to find innovative solutions to reliably record and archive the flow and return temperatures as well as the flow in the substations and strings. The goal is to be able to analyse this data to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.
Mission #3
Analysis of data from heat-generating systems
Data generated – data analysed
We have realised that we can gain valuable insights by analysing data from heat-generating systems. With this in mind, we are now looking for solutions that will help us with our analysis and take into account heat pumps, solar thermal energy, PV and their interaction. So far, our analyses have mainly been fed by heat-relevant data from our conventional heating systems: in our case, predominantly gas boilers.
Help us understand the heat transition even better through smart reporting and data analysis.
Mission #4
Further digitalisation of heating service providers
To increase efficiency and save costs, we want to better integrate our heating service providers into digital processes such as maintenance, servicing and repairing faults. For example, we want to achieve a faster response time in the event of a fault so that our tenants don’t have to take cold showers or freeze. Planning maintenance work can also be optimised through better integration of service providers, who are currently integrated via ticket systems but cannot access system data.
We are willing to share relevant data from the systems with our service providers for this purpose. The existing heating systems may still have to be equipped accordingly so that the necessary data can be transmitted in a target-oriented way. Innovative technologies and hardware will be required to master these challenges within the mission.
Mission #5
Generating, optimising and providing periodic consumption data
The aim of mission #5 is to create readable and processable databases based on the data from the technology for the measurement service (heat cost allocator, pre-acquisition heat meter, etc.), which are currently received by the contractually bound measurement service providers via monthly radio logs, their contents can be used both for graphically prepared information for the tenants and for analyzes and plausibility checks within the scope of the heat supply.
Mission #6
Developing and running an IoT network with integrated field devices
Gewobag runs an IoT network with currently more than 500 branches, where various IoT devices (e.g. superordinate heating controls or gateways for meter data collection) communicate with our servers. Mission #6 involves developing this network efficiently for current and future requirements, integrating the field devices and putting them into operation.