PILOT SITE LUČE – A FIRST SELF-SUFFICIENT ENERGY COMMUNITY IN SLOVENIA

What: Village Luče, one of the COMPILE pilot sites, became the first self-sufficient energy community in Slovenia

Where: Luče, Slovenia

When: Spring 2020

Thanks to the COMPILE project and its partners, specially PETROL and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia got its first self-sufficient energy community. Village Luče, located in the Upper Savinja Valley, which is one of the project’s pilot sites locations, is now in some periods completely energy self-sufficient.

Energy community Luče got the solar power plants on 9 buildings with the total power of 102 kW, five household batteries (2 x 10 kW/23,2 kWh, 10 kW/11,6 kWh, 5 kW/9,8 kWh and 3,5 kW/7 kWh) and a community battery (150 kW/333 kWh). Besides, the public EV charger has been installed. The system is being managed by Petrol’s technical information system (IoT platform) Tango and Home Energy Management System (HEMS) which was developed within the project.

By managing each of the building and the energy community, the solar power plant production can be now five times higher than it was initially possible within the given grid.

Also, with the help of Slovenian DSO Elektro Celje, we have tested the island mode operation, totally disconnected from the grid, which would “kick-in” in case of network connection problems. This island mode tested in Luče, to our knowledge, presents the first of a kind island operation of a village with community battery in EU.

Mr. Ciril Rosc, the major of Luče Municipality, said that the project not only brought the stable energy community and secure supply of the local energy system but also strengthened the community relationship and economic welfare of the residents.

The solutions developed in COMPILE and applied in Luče are the result of Slovenian knowledge and have a great potential for further use especially in the rural environment where there is a weak distribution grid that limits the integration of renewable energy sources.