Tuinen van Eden (Wilrijk)

Tuinen Van Eden Energy,

Wilrijk – Belgium

   





a local energy community in Antwerp city

Triple Living is constructing Tuinen van Eden in Wilrijk, near Antwerp, a brand-new, innovative, and green residential neighborhood. The energy-efficient new district comprises 195 homes spread across 10 buildings and is located on the edge of the beautiful Park van Eden. In the communal underground garage, 257 parking spaces will be provided. Tuinen Van Eden Energy, managing the sustainable and smart energy system of the neighborhood and making it accessible to residents, will also install intelligent charging facilities for electric vehicles.

Circular has co-developed Tuinen Van Eden Energy together with Triple Living and is now responsible for the day to day management of the Energy Service Company. Furthermore, Circular is implementing its energy management system – Circular Energy manager – onsite to maximally optimize the renewable energy resources in the district.

Interested in developing a local energy community? Find out more here >

Day to day management of the ESCO Tuinen Van Eden Energy

Because Tuinen Van Eden energy is responsible for providing a basic need to all users in the area, we thought it was very important to work with an experienced party,” says Elisa Cousy of Triple Living. “Circular is responsible for the daily management and monitoring of the installations. It is a company that strives for maximum sustainability, comfort and care for the end user. They have been involved in the heat and cold supply for Tuinen Van Eden district since construction and therefore know the installations well.”

Next to the daily follow up and supervision of the installations. Circular is also governing the ESCO ensuring that contracts, legal and financial requirements are met.

A sustainable energy management system for the neighborhood

The new infrastructure will be integrated in an innovative way with the sustainable energy system of the entire neighborhood and will thus be managed through the overarching energy management system (EMS) of Tuinen van Eden Energy, developed by Circular. Through the EMS, the charging infrastructure will be seamlessly integrated into the overall energy infrastructure of the neighborhood, which also brings together the BEO field for heating supply and the solar panels for energy generation. Simultaneously, the charging infrastructure will be opened to external users via a newly developed sharing system.

Optimal distribution of generated energy

The ten buildings in the neighborhood have a collective roof surface area capable of accommodating over 800 solar panels. Currently, 175 panels have been installed and utilized by various housing units, allowing them to achieve an EPC level of less than 30. In total, there is space on the buildings for an additional 638 solar panels. Together, they can provide a total potential installation capacity of approximately 260,000 watts peak (WP). This translates to a production of around 220,000 kWh per year, equivalent to the annual average consumption of 82 households (average household consumption in 2022 according to figures from the VREG: 2,658 kWh). Thanks to the smart control of the Energy Management System, this generated energy can be optimally utilized throughout the neighborhood.

Both the charging processes of the electric vehicles and the PV consumption and use of the BEO field can be intelligently and integratedly managed within the available grid connection. The neighborhood thus functions as a renewable energy community (REC) where surplus solar energy is optimally shared between the different buildings and charging processes. Furthermore, dynamic energy tariffs are used to optimize the charging point price for the user.

Scalable charging infrastructure system

To power all charging points, a medium-voltage cabin with a power of 630 amperes has been installed in the neighborhood. The cabling to the charging points is done via a bundled Canalis system. This has several advantages over individual cabling: it is safer, requires fewer cables, and makes it easier to connect additional charging points.

For the control of the charging points, the cloud-based management system of Powered by Zeno is used, which collaborates with Circular’s energy management system. Smart algorithms match the available power to the demand and distribute it optimally among the connected charging points.

The new charging infrastructure will be made available to residents of Tuinen Van Eden through manager Tuinen Van Eden Energy, but other residents in the neighborhood will also be able to use the charging installations. For a fee, of course. Potentially, via mobile app and an identification badge, they too can access free charging points. To prevent abuse, a parking fee will be set, so that vehicles can only use the parking facilities during the charging period.