The SmaChaCo (Smart Charging Community) project harnesses the flexibility of electric vehicles in various types of energy communities and develops smart charging strategies for this purpose.
SmaChaCo aims to harness the flexibility of electric vehicles in a wide variety of energy communities. Using a case study of an apartment building in Graz with multiple charging points and local PV generation, the feasibility of such sector coupling with smart charging strategies is analyzed.
The project builds on the software products of two startups: a billing platform for energy communities and a charging management backend. Interfaces are being specified to integrate both systems and enhance them with intelligent optimization algorithms. A key development step is a novel hierarchical optimization logic that transmits and implements optimized control signals—ranging from optimized multiple participation in energy communities through collective self-consumption to charging management at individual charging points. The project makes an important contribution to the future market readiness of charging concepts and corresponding business models. At the same time, energy communities can leverage existing flexibility potential to increase the share of self-consumption and improve grid services.
RISC Software GmbH is participating as a project partner and is contributing its expertise in mathematical optimization and intelligent algorithms to the development of the hierarchical optimization logic.
The project is funded under the 2024 Energy Research Program with funds from the Climate and Energy Fund and is administered by the FFG.
Mathematical Optimization Specialist
