REaL is a regional overall concept for making 100% renewable energy a reality by generating it locally and exploiting flexibilities. The chosen region is home to 13 municipalities in the Südliches Waldviertel climate and energy model region plus the municipality of Wieselburg-Land, where the research centre BEST GmbH operates a microgrid and test plant for renewable energy communities (RECs). The aim was to develop a scalable, user-friendly approach for sector-integrated municipal energy systems. Integrating the agricultural and forestry sectors is a key aspect. This is because farmland and woodland generate, besides food, forestry products and energy, also by-products that can be used in municipal recycling systems (incineration, pyrolysis, fermentation and power-to-gas).
The study also focused on developing concepts and tools for energy planning and optimised system operations. The overall concept has five main pillars:
> Municipal agricultural solar and wind farms benefiting the whole community
> Partially automated data acquisition and a living laboratory platform for energy and renovation planning for households, companies and local energy systems
> Digitalising energy technologies and integrating them into an overarching control and regulation strategy
> Furthering the development of a comprehensive system controller
> Getting the public on board and involved