A Demonstration to Showcase the Future of Building-to-Grid

The threat of climate change and the opportunities of digital innovation converge at a point of transformation for the buildings sector. Population growth, urbanization, and the rise of the middle class are all symptoms and drivers of climate change, while innovations in digital offer new frontiers for high value growth for building owners, technology, energy, and service providers. 

Building-to-Grid (B2G) is an emerging platform that supports digital facilities and homes that are ready for the future, optimizing energy consumption, comfort, and experience. New synergies emerge between utilities, technology and service providers, and building owners as traditional market roles give way to a more fluid competitive ecosystem with B2G. Ultimately, significant value creation opportunities emerge as an increasingly dynamic, flexible, and intelligent building stock achieves seamless interaction with an evolving grid infrastructure that prioritizes clean, distributed, mobile, and intelligent market systems.

EDP Leads EU POCITYF

B2G is becoming a reality today. EDP, the global energy company out of Portugal, is leading an innovative project over the next 60 months that is expected to demonstrate the potential of B2G. The new €22.5 million (roughly $25 million) EU POCITYF (A POsitive Energy CITY Transformation Framework) project is a showcase of B2G in development. This demonstration is set to be executed in four Energy Transition Tracks. As EDP explains, “POCITYF will therefore add layers of smartness in key city infrastructures, technologies and services (i.e., buildings, energy grid, e-mobility), creating new possibilities to make cities safer, greener, and more responsive to the needs of their citizens, businesses, and other organizations.” The technology stacking approach offers a real-life illustration of the digital future Guidehouse, a Guidehouse Company, has characterized as Energy Cloud 4.0, the ecosystem within which B2G is anticipated to emerge.

B2G Transforming the Energy Value Chain

During the next 5-15 years, Guidehouse expects massive disruption across the entire energy value chain, which could affect a broad set of stakeholders. This transformation is primarily fueled by multilateral efforts focused on decarbonizing the global economy to address climate change and a shift toward an increasingly clean, intelligent, mobile, and distributed energy ecosystem. 

B2G is one critical platform that enables the distributed, flexible, resilient energy future envisioned in Energy Cloud 4.0. Advanced energy management systems, energy efficiency, integrated renewables and vehicle charging systems, and value transfer with peer-to-peer networks all demonstrate the B2G potential for tackling climate change, generating new revenue streams, and enhancing experience in buildings. 

The opportunity cost of inaction is huge—industry incumbents across the energy and building technology sectors that fail to innovate could lose out to new competition from adjacent markets, creative strategic partnerships, and flexible peers. The Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C would be missed and energy resiliency initiatives would become even more complex to deploy. Market leaders can emerge by focusing on change management to ensure that digital technologies become embedded in their business.

Find out more about Guidehouse’s vision for the future-ready digital building industry in the new white paper, Building-to-Grid.