Support of (micro)grid operation modes

What does this smart-ready service involve?

E-8 concerns the way a building interacts with the electricity grid and with potentially neighbouring buildings. The Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) is a European measurement method that assesses how intelligently a building manages energy, comfort and flexibility. This service falls within the Electricity domain, one of nine domains in the SRI methodology.

The specific question is whether the building management system (BMS) can respond to external signals, such as a grid operator requesting lower power consumption at a particular time. This service is not included in method A, the simplified variant of SRI assessment, but only in the full method B.

What functionality levels are there?

The service has four levels, from 0 to 3, increasing in complexity and in the building's degree of independence.

• Level 0: no functionality present.
• Level 1: the building automatically manages its electricity consumption based on grid signals.
• Level 2: the building manages not only its own consumption but can also supply electricity to neighbouring buildings (a microgrid, a local network of multiple buildings) or to the public grid.
• Level 3: the building can manage its consumption and supply and additionally can temporarily operate independently without connection to the grid, also known as island mode.

How does this service count towards the SRI score?

Each smart-ready service is assessed against seven impact criteria, such as energy efficiency and grid flexibility. The achieved level, together with the weighting factor of the domain, determines how heavily the service counts in the overall score.

The final SRI result is expressed as a percentage and assigned to one of seven classes, ranging from below 20 percent to 90 to 100 percent. A building that achieves a high level on E-8 contributes to a higher score within the Electricity domain.