Program Overview
This two-day program offers an in-depth exploration of energy communities and distributed energy resources, using Iceland as a living laboratory. Participants will gain hands-on experience with conceptual frameworks, digital tools, and analytical methods to analyze and design community-scale energy systems, with a focus on multi-energy systems, district heating, and ecosystem-level coordination.
Program Structure
The summer school is structured as a two-day, case-driven program combining lectures, hands-on exercises, and group work.
-
Day 1 focuses on contextual grounding and ecosystem mapping, including an introduction to Iceland’s energy system and hands-on ecosystem analysis using a web-based tool.
-
Day 2 focuses on digital modeling methods and business models, covering semantic modeling, data-driven thermal storage modeling, co-simulation of energy communities, and business model design.
Participants will work in small groups on a shared case titled: “Design and Analysis of an Icelandic Energy Community with Distributed Energy Resources”. Each lecture contributes a new analytical layer to this case, culminating in an integrated group synthesis at the end of the program.​​​​​​​​
Detailed Program Schedule
Day 1 - Context and Ecosystem Foundations
Overview
Day 1 introduces the foundational concepts of energy communities and distributed energy resources within the Icelandic energy system. Participants will learn how to analyze national and community-scale energy contexts, explore ecosystem mapping approaches for energy communities, and gain hands-on experience using a web-based tool to identify key actors, technologies, and institutional elements. Through guided group work, participants will apply CSTEP-style impact thinking to define community boundaries, assess opportunities and challenges, and establish a shared analytical foundation for the case-based work in the following days.
Day 2 - Digital Methods and Business Models
Overview
Day 2 focuses on digital modeling and business design methods for analyzing and designing energy communities with distributed energy resources. Participants will learn semantic modeling approaches for representing buildings and community energy systems, apply data-driven methods to explore the role of thermal energy storage, and develop conceptual co-simulation architectures for multi-energy community systems. Through hands-on exercises and group work, participants will integrate technical modeling insights with business model design for district heating–based energy communities, culminating in a group synthesis and reflection on method integration and transferability.
Summer School Learning Materials
The learning material will be shared with the registered participants.