The Collaborative Energy Living Lab (CELL) is located in Buochs, Switzerland, and centres around the Am Aawasser energy community, comprising three residential buildings with 23 apartments and 600 m² of commercial space, all owned by a single investor, SANI Immobilien AG. This unified ownership has enabled a highly integrated energy system aimed at achieving near self-sufficiency through the combination of diverse local generation and storage assets. The community features a 124 kW peak PV system, an 85 kW run-of-river hydroelectric plant, thermal storage tanks, and battery storage, alongside EV chargers and shared electric vehicles. A new battery system dedicated to the INTELLIGENT project is being installed by May 2025, replacing an earlier setup. The site also includes infrastructure for a methanol fuel cell, which is planned for future integration.
Currently, the CELL site achieves around 90% energy self-sufficiency, consuming approximately 200 MWh annually, which demonstrates the effectiveness of its decentralised setup. However, internal energy sharing between individual apartments is limited by contractual arrangements; while the buildings are centrally managed, the apartments are not individually connected to the distribution system operator (DSO). To extend the potential for flexibility trading, two external apartments located within Buochs – equipped with smart meters and under the same DSO – have been added to the demonstration. These units allow testing of inter-site energy transactions under realistic regulatory and technical conditions, despite not possessing energy assets themselves.
CELL pilot site in Buochs, Switzerland
Some challenges persist. The three on-site heat pumps (120 kW total) face operational limitations due to high iron levels in groundwater, meaning they may not be fully functional during the project. As a result, flexibility services will rely primarily on the new battery system and EV infrastructure. Although the site benefits from high grid reliability and operates under a fixed electricity tariff regime, the implementation of dynamic pricing is constrained by regional infrastructure. Community members are primarily motivated by financial savings, and payments are currently managed through standard methods like credit cards and bank transfers. While funding flexibility is limited, some equipment upgrades, such as the new battery system, have been made possible through project partner support.
The INTELLIGENT project will provide recommendations to address these challenges and prepare the operational readiness of this pilot site ahead of the project’s implementation phase. Developed in response to the specific technical challenges and barriers identified, such measures are intended to improve the site’s resilience, enhance system functionality, and facilitate the effective integration of INTELLIGENT project tools.
Overview of the CELL pilot site with its structures
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