Berlin’s First Smart City Quarter Powered by Panasonic

• The showcase for social, digital & connected, green & sustainable living has commenced in Central Europe
• Panasonic’s global smart cities portfolio extended with this European Lighthouse project
• In place to continue surpassing competition regarding market growth in the “Residential Energy Saving Equipment”

On July 1, 2020, Panasonic announced the start of its innovative, CO2-saving energy solution for the smart city project, Future Living® Berlin. The urban beacon is an important project in the company’s wider smart cities portfolio, which contribute to its focus on the decarbonization of society.

The installation in Berlin combines both green and sustainable, and digital and connected living. It is realized through the installation of smart energy solutions including Panasonic’s highly efficient air to water heat pumps, photovoltaic (PV) panels and storage batteries integrated into an intelligent and efficient energy management system.

Junichi Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Europe B.V commented, “We bring to the project over 60 years of heating and cooling expertise alongside decades in PV and battery solutions, and a passion for innovations that will shape the future for generations to come.”

Panasonic has achieved strong sales growth in the relevant energy business areas in Europe, e.g. double-digit sales growth in the air to water heat pump business for the last ten years. The company has also committed in 2019 to grow the “Residential Energy Saving Equipment” business multiple times over by 2025.

Efficient Energy Management

For Panasonic, Future Living® Berlin is a fundamentally important experiment in building cutting-edge energy solutions. The project marks a milestone in achieving the goals set in the strategy.

Panasonic’s energy experts and software engineers of its R&D Centre in Europe have developed an intelligent energy management solution to optimize the use of energy and couple electricity with the heating sector. The smart control combines heat pumps together with other efficient, green Panasonic technologies, such as PV panels. The technologies have been integrated into an efficient energy saving solution not only controlled, but also constantly optimized by Panasonic’s intelligent energy management solution.

Ralf Becker, Project Leader Energy Group, Panasonic R&D Centre Europe explained, “The solution is a world’ first, developed as a joint-venture with leading research institutions for decentralized energy management. In simulations together with university test labs we achieved an improvement of used energy by up to 15%.”

A Beacon for Sustainable Living

The core energy component of the Future Living® Berlin green and sustainable goal is the installed Panasonic’s air to water heat pump product line-up, “Aquarea.” A highly energy efficient technology, they run almost carbon-free when powered by the renewable energy provided by the 600 Panasonic HIT panels, which supply a capacity of 195kWp. On account of the patented silicone technology, the Panasonic photovoltaic system is 10% more efficient than conventional modules. Furthermore Panasonic’s HIT technology achieves a significantly better performance in hot environments because of its superior temperature coefficient - an essential advantage in coping with the climate change.

Utilizing the renewable energy, the air to water system is used for space heating and warm water generation but can also be used for cooling. For increased performance, the heat pumps include a cloud-based connectivity feature for installers called Aquarea Service Cloud which makes them even more reliable. It saves further CO2 emissions as maintenance visits can be organized much more efficiently and partly even conducted remotely.

These energy solutions are brought together under a Aquarea Smart Cloud, which allows end-users to monitor their power usage and manage temperature settings accordingly. This results in increased efficiency and comfort while enjoying transparency of their consumption.

To achieve further sustainable and green objectives, residents are part of a wider ecological environment which offers green car sharing, shared washing machines, and Panasonic energy solutions.

Connected comfortability

The digital and connected goal of Future Living® Berlin starts within the residential apartments. The equipment follows the idea of being smart and connected with Panasonic TVs and smart speakers being part of an overall IoT infrastructure, which includes an apartment manager as the central hub.

Digital & connected solutions are further extended to include wider security, safety, and smart building solutions that enhance the overall comfortability of residents.

Suzuki continued, “Future Living® Berlin is a future Way of Living - of how we may live tomorrow with a focus on social, digital & connected, and green & sustainable living.”

Panasonic is partnering in the smart city project with GSW Sigmaringen, the building-owner of Future Living® Berlin.

Video: Panasonic and Future Living Berlin