The future load profile is the single most important factor for determining the future grid. But in many cases while planning future grids, the planners simply assume that the future load will be much like the current one, which can cause large problems later. In this paper an alternative approach is shown. For the research project “SimZukunft” the future load is calculated based on the official scenarios for Switzerland, which are broken down to the level of the individual house. A bottom-up simulation is used to calculate the future load profile, which is then used to perform the grid planning. The paper explains the methods used to generate a detailed bottom up model for a city as well as the challenges and benefits of the approach and gives a brief overview of some of the results of the research project.

Electric vehicles will be one of the major drivers of future electricity demand. Due to their large storage they are a very attractive energy consumer for photovoltaic energy and a good energy sink to increase self-consumption. But for most of the working population, the car is frequently not at home at times of optimal solar radiation and thus cannot be charged. In the last years a new, behavior-based residential load profile generator has developed that models the individual people as independent software agents. This makes it possible model very diverse behavior patterns, for example singles and families, office workers, shift workers and unemployed people. The tool has now been extended to also model electromobility. The aim of this paper is to do a systematic analysis of when and with how much power and energy people can charge their cars considering real energy use, behavior and absences and how much of this energy can be covered by PV in each case.