Microgrid
ProjectsSubmit a project

Home / Directory / Mannheim-Wallstadt Microgrid

Europe / Commercial & demonstration

Mannheim-Wallstadt Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations6
System facts29
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Mannheim-Wallstadt was a European field-test microgrid in an ecological residential estate of roughly 580 households and 1,200 inhabitants. MVV Energie developed it under the EU FP6 More Microgrids program to test demand response, medium- and low-voltage islanding, distributed PV and CHP, storage, and customer interfaces. Major trials ran from 2006 through 2009; public sources do not confirm that the exact research configuration remains in operation in 2026.

Research status
Historical research demonstration completed around 2009. The residential district remains part of Mannheim's electricity system and its lessons fed later smart-grid work, including Model City Mannheim, but no current primary documentation confirms continued operation of the original islanding controller, flywheel, Sunny Backup battery, fuel cell, or participant equipment as one microgrid. It should not simply be labeled currently operational.
Historical classification
CHP
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
49.49841, 8.55141
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Mannheim-Wallstadt Microgrid?

6 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

European Commission FP6 More Microgrids

Research program and funding framework for the field demonstration [2][3]

Organization

Mannheim-Wallstadt municipal kindergarten / Kinderhaus

Host of the low-voltage islanding test, VisiKid display, PV, storage, and controllable loads [3][4]

Organization

MVV

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

MVV Energie

Local utility, project developer, system integrator, and field-test lead [2][3][4]

Organization

SMA Solar Technology

Supplier of the Sunny Backup battery-inverter platform used at the Kinderhaus [4][5]

Organization

Wallstadt residents and private DER owners

Participants in demand-response, solar-use, and distributed-generation trials [2][6]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
33.8 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
14.5 [1]
KW Fuel Cell
4.7 [1]
Storage
1.2 kW Flywheel [1]
Community scale
Approximately 1,200 inhabitants and 580 households in the ecological estate [3][4]
Photovoltaics
Project descriptions vary by phase: one reports a 3.8 kW project array plus five private arrays totaling 30 kW, or 33.8 kW; another guide lists 23.5 kW total PV. The discrepancy likely reflects different dates or system boundaries [4][5]
Fuel cell
4.7 kW [4][5]
Combined heat and power
Two principal electrical CHP ratings of 9 kW and 5.5 kW, 14.5 kW total, with a privately owned WhisperGen unit also discussed in project material [4][5]
Flywheel
1.2 kW power rating; an energy capacity is not published in the cited summaries [4][5]
Kinderhaus battery buffer
Sunny Backup system capable of approximately 10 kW for one hour, implying about 10 kWh usable at that stated duty [4]
District electrical demand
Approximately 80–230 kW [4][5]
Controllable loads
Approximately 60 kW of ventilation and 48 kW of electric-boiler load [4][5]
Distribution voltage
Field tests addressed both 20 kV medium-voltage operation and a low-voltage Kinderhaus island [2][4]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Photovoltaics

Model not publicly disclosed

A project-owned 3.8 kW system and multiple privately owned arrays; aggregate capacity differs across dated sources and module/inverter makes are not consistently published [4][5]

02

Fuel cell

Model not publicly disclosed

4.7 kW distributed generator; manufacturer, model, chemistry, and fuel-processing configuration are not identified in the cited project summaries [4]

03

Combined heat and power

Model not publicly disclosed

9 kW and 5.5 kW electrical CHP units plus a privately installed WhisperGen micro-CHP referenced in the broader trial [4][5]

04

Flywheel storage

Model not publicly disclosed

1.2 kW short-duration storage/power-quality unit. Published sources do not provide enough information to infer kWh or model [4][5]

05

Battery inverter

SMA Solar Technology — Sunny Backup

Kinderhaus islanding and grid-forming system with a battery buffer documented at 10 kW for one hour [4]

06

Customer interface

Energy Butler

Home display/automation interface trialed with about 20 customers in 2008 to coordinate flexible demand with renewable availability [6][3]

07

Educational display

VisiKid

Kindergarten visualization showing real-time PV production and energy behavior [4][6]

08

Controllable loads

Model not publicly disclosed

Ventilation and electric-boiler loads used for balancing and island tests [4]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Research timeline

    The 'Washing with the Sun' customer trial ran in summer 2006, Energy Butler home trials followed in 2008, and final islanding field tests were carried out in 2009. [2][3][6]

  • Demand response

    More than 20 households and the daycare center shifted washing and other flexible loads away from evening or cloudy periods toward times of local solar production. [2][6]

  • Islanding test

    The Kinderhaus low-voltage section, containing two PV systems, Sunny Backup storage, and controllable loads, was separated and resynchronized during field trials. [4][3]

  • Frequency performance

    Published demonstration summaries report a brief frequency rise of about 2 Hz when loads were shed during islanding; control was described as imperfect but acceptable before reconnection. [4]

  • Energy mix

    Documented DER capacity was much smaller than the district's 80–230 kW load, so the public grid supplied most normal-operation energy. Island tests covered a limited subsection rather than continuously powering all 580 households. [4][5]

  • Storage interpretation

    The 1.2 kW flywheel and the approximately 10 kWh Sunny Backup battery are separate assets or phases. They should not be combined into one storage device or described as a 1.2 kWh battery. [4][5]

  • Successor work

    Lessons from Wallstadt contributed to later Mannheim smart-grid activities such as Model City Mannheim, but those successor deployments are distinct projects and do not prove the original hardware remains active. [3][6]

  • Current-evidence limit

    No 2025–2026 primary source was found that inventories the original DER, storage, controls, and islanding equipment or reports current microgrid operation. [4][6]

Provenance

7 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    Long Term European Field Tests for Microgrids

    IEEE Power Conversion Conference · Primary source

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    MVV Mannheim-Wallstadt Microgrid

    International Microgrid Symposiums · Secondary research

  5. [5]
    A Guide to Microgrids

    Highlands and Islands Enterprise · Secondary research

  6. [6]
    Wallstadt

    Smartrue · Secondary research

  7. [7]
    Mannheim-Wallstadt Microgrid (archived legacy record)

    Microgrid Projects / Internet Archive · Archived source

Continue exploring

Related projects in Europe