Press Release

11/05/2026

Smart East 2.0: Karlsruhe's "Alter Schlachthof" Is Set to Become a Climate-Friendly Neighborhood

Karlsruhe follow-up project integrates electricity, heat, and mobility / A model for the energy transition in existing urban neighborhoods

Research Focus: Energy and Sustainability

How can the energy transition succeed in places where people work, experience culture, and businesses go about their daily lives—in an established neighborhood with a variety of buildings and energy needs? The “Smart East 2.0” project, funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg, addresses this very issue: For the Alte Schlachthof neighborhood in eastern Karlsruhe, research is being conducted to explore how a networked climate district could be designed, in which electricity, heat, and mobility interact intelligently and are shared.

From a real-world lab to a connected energy system

The goal of the real-world lab is to use energy more efficiently, better integrate renewable energy sources, and test community-based energy supply in the neighborhood. At the same time, the project aims to develop a transferable model for the energy and heating transition in other cities. “Smart East 2.0” builds on the experience gained from its predecessor, the “Smart East” project, which focused on the smart integration of the power grid and electric mobility in the Oststadt neighborhood. With the Alter Schlachthof, the spotlight is now shifting to another Karlsruhe neighborhood. The approximately 72,000-square-meter site brings together the cultural and creative sectors, commercial enterprises, and event venues.

When energy works together in the neighborhood

“It is precisely this mix that makes it a suitable real-world laboratory for new solutions in the urban energy transition,” emphasizes Thekla Walker, Minister for the Environment, Climate, and Energy in Baden-Württemberg. The key development: In addition to electricity and mobility, heat is now also being systematically integrated into energy management, coordinated, and optimized in a market-oriented manner as part of the study. The goal is to demonstrate how photovoltaic systems, heat pumps, electrical and thermal storage systems, air conditioning, charging infrastructure, and district heating connections can be networked and coordinated with one another. This allows for a holistic view of energy generation and consumption and taps into flexibility potential that has often gone untapped until now.

The project consortium is led by the FZI Research Center for Information Technology; other consortium partners include the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Stadtwerke Karlsruhe along with Badische Energie-Servicegesellschaft mbH (BES), and fokus.energie e.V.

Heat is becoming an active part of the energy transition

The focus is on developing an energy system that not only optimizes self-consumption within the neighborhood but can also respond to the demands of the power grid and the energy market. Heating and cooling play a special role in this: “Heat pumps, storage systems, and the thermal inertia of buildings are intended to contribute specifically to increasing flexibility. The innovation lies in not viewing electricity, heat, and mobility in isolation, but rather in harnessing their flexibility for the benefit of the entire neighborhood,” says project initiator Dr.-Ing. Christoph Schlenzig of SVB Strategie & Vision GmbH.

Intelligent energy management allows for better coordination between generation, storage, and consumption. At the same time, the flexibility potential available within the neighborhood will be pooled and made available for use outside the area through connection to a virtual power plant. In this way, “Smart East 2.0” aligns the local energy supply with the demands of an increasingly dynamic energy system.

Sharing energy

However, “Smart East 2.0” does not rely solely on technology. The project is also exploring how renewable energy can be used collectively. A so-called “energy community” could emerge at the Old Slaughterhouse for this purpose. Within the framework of the statutory energy-sharing model, the technical, economic, and organizational prerequisites for collective energy use in the neighborhood are being examined. Karlsruhe’s mayor, Dr. Frank Mentrup, has agreed to serve as the project’s patron.

The key lies with the local community: businesses, cultural leaders, tenants, and other stakeholders should be involved in the transformation process. Participation initiatives and advisory services should also help identify potential cost savings, remove barriers, and develop sustainable solutions for everyday life in the neighborhood.

The FZI's contribution: smart energy management, innovative business models, including energy sharing, and best practices

How can a networked energy supply system be technically implemented, economically operated, and organized at the neighborhood level? To address this, the FZI Research Center for Information Technology is investigating two closely linked approaches in the Smart East 2.0 project: the shared use of energy generated within the neighborhood (energy sharing) and the marketing of energy flexibility via virtual power plants (VPPs). In this context, the researchers are investigating how energy generation, storage, and consumption can be intelligently coordinated across the electricity, heating, cooling, and mobility sectors. At the same time, they are clarifying who assumes which roles, responsibilities, and tasks, and how these approaches can be meaningfully combined within the context of the energy industry.

For the pilot project, the FZI is further developing algorithms to optimize plant schedules based on the predecessor projects Smart East and WeForming. These algorithms calculate when the plants should generate, store, or consume energy, and coordinate their operation. In doing so, they take into account not only the community’s energy supply within the neighborhood but also the requirements of the power grid and the opportunities for selling energy on the market. For example, the ability to vary the timing of activities such as charging electric cars or operating heat pumps is expected to benefit both energy sharing and the trading of flexibility. In addition, the FZI is contributing to the digital infrastructure so that the necessary measurement and control data can be collected and exchanged.

Based on its practical implementation, the FZI derives best practices and recommendations for other existing neighborhoods. The algorithms developed are published as freely accessible open-source software, for example on GitHub. This allows other cities and neighborhoods to build on the results of Smart East 2.0.</p

A model that serves as an inspiration for other cities

The Alte Schlachthof neighborhood offers favorable conditions for the project: a variety of land uses, existing buildings, some older heating systems, and photovoltaic and charging infrastructure that still has room for improvement present the project with challenges typical of many urban neighborhoods.

To drive the energy transition forward in existing neighborhoods in a practical way, potential investments in photovoltaics, battery storage, heat supply, and charging infrastructure are to be integrated into a comprehensive digital energy management system. “Smart East 2.0” therefore focuses on the concrete implementation and operation of systems rather than solely on concepts, simulations, or project-specific custom solutions! The technical solutions, operational strategies, and business models developed are intended to be transferable to other mixed-use existing neighborhoods, so that innovative concepts can be rolled out on a broader scale. “The project provides impetus for municipal heating planning, the decarbonization of buildings, and the grid-friendly use of local energy sources,” said Minister Walker.

Associate partners of the project

The following organizations are involved in “Smart East 2.0” as associate partners: ausgeschlacht e.V., BGV Badische Versicherungen, BEnKA – BürgerEnergie Karlsruhe eG, K³ Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaftsbüro Karlsruhe, Karlsruher Fächer GmbH, KEK – Karlsruher Energie- und Klimaschutzagentur gGmbH, Smart Grids-Plattform Baden-Württemberg e.V., Stadtmobil CarSharing GmbH & Co. KG, SUBSTAGE Karlsruhe e.V., Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion GmbH, and TOLLHAUS Freier Kulturverein e.V.

Public launch

On Thursday, November 12, 2026, starting at 5:30 p.m., “Smart East 2.0” will be presented to the public for the first time at the Tollhaus in Karlsruhe as part of “RegioCOP31 Karlsruhe.”

Click here for the program and registration.

Interested parties will then gain insights into the project’s goals and approaches and learn how the Alte Schlachthof in Karlsruhe is set to become a model for a smart, community-organized climate neighborhood. The project launched on October 1, 2026, and will receive funding for three years.

The project website www.smart-east.de will be updated accordingly

About the FZI

The FZI Research Center for Information Technology, with headquarters in Karlsruhe and a branch office in Berlin, is a non-profit institution for information technology application research and technology transfer. It delivers the latest scientific findings in information technology to companies and public institutions and qualifies individuals for academic and business careers or the leap into self-employment. Supervised by professors from various faculties, the research groups at the FZI develop interdisciplinary concepts, software, hardware and system solutions for their clients and implement the solutions found as prototypes. The FZI House of Living Labs provides a unique research environment for application research. The FZI is an innovation partner of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and strategic partner of the German Informatics Society (GI).

The press release was taken from fokus.energie e.V. and supplemented with information on the FZI’s role in the project.