SPARCS in the Spinnerei, Leipzig – a review of the first twelve months
SPARCS H2020 EU
25 february 2021 | Location: Leipzig
Smart Mobility

The SPARCS Project began on 1st October 2019 in Espoo, Finland, with a Kick-off Meeting, and a gathering of the entire consortium from several countries across Europe. The main cities of focus for the Project are Espoo and Leipzig which are both lighthouse cities. Kladno (Czech Republic), Lviv (Ukraine), Maia (Portugal) Reykjavik (Iceland) and Kifissia (Greece) are the fellow cities that will be reapplying techniques, technologies and learnings from the fellow cities in the final few years of the SPARCS Project.  

In the first year of work, the SPARCS Project has achieved many things but in the Spinnerei Area which is the focus of CENERO Energy GmbH, we have made progress in building one of the first bi-directional charging stations in Germany. There is an old tank station in the Spinnerei which has long since been decommissioned and used mainly as a carport for bikes and mopeds, see picture below. However, this is all set to change in 2021 when Solar PV panels will be installed on the roof and bi-directional charging stations below. The solar PV will then feed into an electrical battery which will save the energy for the next charge, as when required by cars pulling into the Spinnerei. There will also be a car from our Project Partners, seecon Ingenieure GmbH, who are working with car manufacturers to have one of the very first bi-directional cars available to be used as a work car and when in park, as an extra battery supply. There are three 22kW electric car charging stations installed in the Spinnerei District in Leipzig. One of these stations is reserved for the use of TeilAuto, a car-sharing service. TeilAuto is a car-sharing provider founded in 1992 as an ecologically oriented association.

Alongside the Solar PV Cells planned for the new electrical tank station, there will be a solar PV array built on the roof of building 7 in the Spinnerei District. This will feed into the micro grid and when there is extra energy, will also be sold back to the city grid. Alongside the additions to the roof, building 7 in the Spinnerei District will be fitted with an monitoring feature for tenants to access their energy overview with a SPARCS app. The app will also enable tenants to give feedback to CENERO Energy as their energy provider as to how they would like to improve or change their energy usage.

CENERO Energy is excited to bring this smart technology to the historic location that is the Spinnerei District and is working closely within the MIB group to ensure that the transition will be as smooth as possible for those living and working in the Spinnerei District.