How can you unlock the potential of your buildings within the energy system – economically, at scale, and in a grid-supportive way?

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As renewable energy generation expands, electrification of heating and mobility increases, and grid constraints become more frequent, buildings are taking on a new role within the energy system. As prosumers, they can generate, store and manage energy, contributing to both grid stability and decarbonisation.

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The 24th brenet Status Seminar, «From Consumer to Prosumer – How Buildings Shape Switzerland's Energy System», presents the latest findings and research approaches from applied research, featuring contributions and real-world projects from Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences and industry partners.

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Objective: To translate current research findings into practical applications and provide professionals with concrete approaches for implementation in their own projects.

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Target audience: Professionals from Energy utilities, Planning and engineering, Research and academia, Industry, Public authorities

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Key topics

• Buildings as active elements of the energy system

• Integration of buildings into energy systems and grids

• Flexibility, energy storage and sector coupling

• Heat pumps, district solutions and multi-energy systems

• Managing peak loads and grid congestion

• Economic and scalable solutions for the existing building stock

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Keynotes & Expert Inputs

• Lukas Küng (Primeo Netz) – Power grids and buildings – are developments aligned?

• Maike Schubert (SmartGridready) – SmartGridready – solutions for a flexible energy system

• Beat Fuchs (Siemens) – Building automation and sector coupling – how prosumer buildings optimise energy flows

• Sabine von Stockar (Minergie) – Insights from practice: Questions Minergie brings to research

• Andreas Eckmanns (Swiss Federal Office of Energy, SFOE) – Current developments and results from ongoing funding programmes and calls

 

Featured Presentations

• Lighthouse Projects: SWEET PATHFNDR – Flexibility at scale – how much flexibility is available in my grid? – Prof. Dr. Philipp Schütz

• Local Energy Communities & Multi-Energy Systems: Synergies of sector coupling and stakeholder coordination – Prof. Dr. Natasa Vulic (FHNW) & Prof. Dr. Matthias Resch (FHNW)

• Small Assets, Big Impact: How distributed flexibility turns buildings into active prosumers – Joëlle Clot (HSLU)

• Buildings as a Grid: Next-generation EV charging infrastructure and multi-energy forecasting – Prof. Dr. Nikos Zarkadis (HEPIA / HES-SO)

• Prosumers in Real-World Living Labs – Incentive mechanisms and the use of flexibility in buildings – Prof. Dr. David Zogg (FHNW)

• A New District Heating Network for Wallisellen – Seasonal borehole thermal energy storage and decentralised probes for cooling and peak load management – Florian Ruesch (OST) & Igor Bosshard (die werke versorgung wallisellen)

 

16 Research Pitches –  Short presentations ranging from new research concepts to concrete project results (see detailed programme).

 

Participants and contributors include

• Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences: FHNW, HES-SO, HSLU, OST, SUPSI, UNIGE, ZHAW

• Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), SWEET PATHFNDR,Minergie, SmartGridready

• Industry and implementation partners such as Siemens, ABB, Solarmarkt, Belimo and Primeo

 

Languages

German, French, Italian and English – with AI-supported live translation and subtitles.

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Partnerships: Siemens | ABB | Solarmarkt | Belimo
With the support of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE)
Communication Partners: energie-cluster.ch | SWKI | EN Bau Cooperation