READY gears Aarhus for green, energy-friendly future

Aarhus was chosen as demonstration city for the EU-funded READY project, which is one of the largest and greenest smart city projects in Northern Europe. READY aims to develop and test tomorrow’s intelligent energy systems where cities – in cooperation with private and public actors – take on an active role in the green transition to a future based on renewable energy.

In Aarhus, READY builds on a range of energy projects, testing a wide pallet of new renewable and energy-reducing technologies that are integrated across the city thanks to smart management and storage of energy. The overall goal is, over a number of years, to reduce energy consumption by more than 50 per cent.

Among other things, in connection with energy-optimising more than 400 social housing apartments and single-family homes, a new energy-efficient solar panel system is implemented and tested. The system produces power and heat while acting as energy absorber for a heat pump system. That makes it possible to absorb around three times as much energy as traditional solar panels. Furthermore, a so-called smart energy building hub is established, which runs a large battery storage that can store energy from the sun and turn equipment on and off. Furthermore, techniques for recovering heat from residential wastewater are tested, along with the energy-efficiency potential in installing digital meters in social housing as well as new solutions in low-temperature district heating, which may be rolled out throughout Aarhus in the long term.

Ten partners in Denmark have joined forces to share knowledge and develop solutions for the READY project.

The project is run by COWI A/S and is partly funded by EU subsidies of approx. DKK 143 million.

Read more about READY here.