City of Dresden, DREWAG and Vonovia actively engage in climate protection.

Solar power from in-house solar systems for tenants, commitment to emobility – together with the city administration, DREWAG and Vonovia are driving the energy revolution forward: as a result of good co-operation, the housing company has replaced three pool vehicles with combustion engines with three electric vehicles.

DREWAG- Stadtwerke Dresden GmbH recently handed over two charging points on the Vonovia employee parking lot.

“Vonovia is aware of its social and ecological responsibility,” says Stefanie Hufen, innovation manager at Vonovia.

“We are not only landlords, but also employers and a part of the Dresden urban society. It is therefore important for us to actively contribute to climate protection.”

Dresden as lighthouse for smart city solutions

The housing company is currently working with the state capital Dresden and municipal utility DREWAG in the EU project 'MAtchUP', to test how living can be designed in an environmentally conscious and sustainable manner and at the same time significantly improves the quality of life of citizens.

“Dresden is on its way to a smart city,” says Dr Robert Franke, head of the business development department. “With its strong technological expertise and excellent research facilities, Dresden is in a position to develop solutions that can serve as models for other cities.

"In many areas, such as road traffic, we have already implemented intelligent concepts,” says Dr Franke. “With MAtchUP we are participating in a European project and can thus be a pioneer for the development of an urban charging infrastructure.”

In 'MAtchUP', Saxony’s state capital, together with numerous partners, is further developing its vision for the future of sustainable living in an innovative city with attractive mobility concepts and a sustainable electricity and heat supply. The EU project began in November 2017 and will run until September 2022.

Johannstadt becomes a smart city district

The municipality intends to further expand its leading role as a 'smart city' and to establish itself as a pilot city for emobility.

Among other things, more than 30 charging points for electric vehicles will be installed. The focus of the 48 individual measures also includes energy supply, energy efficiency, digitisation and citizen participation. The pilot district is Johannstadt, which is to become a smart urban district.

Vonovia is also participating with its extensive housing stock. For example, the company is providing the roof of the residential block at Blasewitzer Strasse 36 a-c so that DREWAG can install and operate a photovoltaic system.

The solar power generated there can be purchased by the residents of the house at a favourable rate, the so-called 'tenant flow'.

“This is an opportunity to test in a pilot project how tenants can have a real advantage from the energy system transformation," says Frank Arnold, head of energy procurement, sales and marketing at DREWAG.

"They receive a favorable electricity price and can use proportionately the solar energy produced on their roof. Our focus is on the measurement and billing of such models.”

Vonovia tests electric vehicles

DREWAG is also supporting Vonovia in changing over to emobility. The housing company is currently testing whether ecars are suitable as pool vehicles.

To this end, Vonovia has replaced three combustion-engine cars with three electric vehicles. DREWAG organised the leasing of these electric vehicles, provided the three eGolfs, and installed four charging points for them in the Vonovia employee car park.

“Our employees should test-drive the vehicles by using them in daily operations”, says Lidia Sieniuta, regional manager Dresden Middle-East at Vonovia. “The feedback from the first days has been positive: the cars can be driven very well, and so far there have been no problems with them.”

Energy-efficient retrofitting as a contribution to climate protection

Vonovia makes a significant contribution to climate protection through energy-efficient refurbishment and new buildings. “It is the German government’s declared goal to make Germany’s building stock almost climate-neutral by 2050,” says Sieniuta.

“We consider this to be our duty, and that is why we want to continue to refurbish at least three per cent of our building stock each year to make it more energy-efficient. Our projects here in Dresden – where we also started with our 1,000 roofs programme – make an important contribution to this.”

As part of 'MAtchUP', Vonovia is exemplarily retrofitting the Pfotenhauerstrasse 12-36 complex: “We decided on these buildings,” says Sieniuta, “because the neighborhood environment had already been made more attractive by the 'socially integrative city' project.

"The experience gained will then also be used to other refurbishment projects because the building type IW67 (10-storey) is very common in Dresden."

MAtchUP unites Vonovia with important partners

“We are happy to support the EU’s 'smart city' project because it is an important goal to create smarter, cleaner cities that can meet the challenges of climate change,” says Hufen.

“Vonovia wants to make the management of our buildings continuously more efficient. New solutions are needed, especially in the light of social challenges such as climate change and demographic change.

"To this end, we are pursuing the open innovation approach, not only by searching internally for new ideas, but also by advancing our innovation process together with external players such as research institutions, startups and exciting companies.

"MAtchUP in Dresden is therefore a highly attractive project for us that unites us with important partners.”

Further Information: www.dresden.de/matchup and www.matchup-project.eu/cities/dresden/