CWI has been awarded its first research contract under the government’s top sector initiative. Together with the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e), installation company Kropman Installatietechniek B.V. and software company Almende BV, CWI will receive funding for a project on energy systems for smart buildings in the top sector Energy. 

Increasingly, smart buildings come equipped with sensors and actuators that provide automated access and support, operate electrical system as well as monitor and control the indoor climate. The challenge is to harness this type of infrastructure to reduce energy consumption but safeguard – or even increase – the level of comfort for the occupants.   

The top sector project will specifically look at the interaction between smart buildings and smart grids, as the latter are predicted to replace the existing power grid in the near future. Smart grids will use information and pricing incentives to regulate energy consumption and flatten peaks in supply and demand. The project aims to investigate the opportunities and limitations of the interface between these two automated systems. Eric Pauwels of the Intelligent Systems-group at CWI will work on signal processing and computational intelligence issues that underpin the envisaged interaction. The project will start in early 2013. 

The top sectors are nine priority areas in which research in the Netherlands is stimulated by the government and funding agencies. Research institutes and companies can jointly apply for top sector projects. CWI is mainly involved in the top sectors Logistics, Energy, Life Sciences & Health and Creative Industry, as well as the top sector spanning theme ICT.