Adlershof Smartgrid-Allianz

The Adlershof Smartgrid-Allianz is a research and demonstration project at the Berlin Adlershof Science and Technology Park, part of the broader "Energy Strategy Berlin Adlershof 2020" cluster initiative. Launched in December 2014, its goal is to reduce the park's primary energy requirement by at least 30 percent by 2020 through the integration of heating, cooling, and electricity systems into a cross-media smart grid.

The project centres on the cooling network at the Centre for Photonics and Optics (ZPO), where an automated energy management system optimises the operation of electrically powered cooling machines and an ice storage facility. By shifting cooling loads to periods with high renewable energy availability in the grid, the system reduces both primary energy consumption and costs. The network also incorporates geothermal cooling via an aquifer and a brine-based distribution system that recovers low-temperature waste heat from industrial processes on site.

The initiative has three main pillars: networking energy flows across media, building the Smart Grid Alliance interest pool among campus stakeholders, and developing energy planning guidelines that link supply infrastructure with urban development planning. An interactive smartphone app was created to demonstrate smart grid principles to a wider audience.

The project is led by the SENSE department (Energy Supply Networks and Integration of Renewable Energies) at TU Berlin, with HTW Berlin and Siemens Corporate Technology as joint project partners. Social science research on stakeholder engagement and acceptance is conducted by TU Berlin's Centre for Technology and Society (ZTG). WISTA Management GmbH coordinates on-site implementation. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (EFRE).