24. brenet Status-Seminar
From Consumer to Prosumer – How Buildings Shape Switzerland’s Energy System
August 20, 2026
Rotkreuz (LU)
Call for Contributions
Deadline: 31 March 2026
The Swiss building stock is at the heart of the energy transition:
As the largest energy consumer—but also as a potential producer, storage facility, and control platform (as a "prosumer")—it is helping to shape the future of our energy system.
The seminar provides a platform to contextualise and transfer findings from applied research into practice, including results from publicly funded projects, for example those supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). In exchange with planners, industry, energy providers and public authorities, the aim is to prepare the next steps in applied research and the upcoming phase of technological system integration on a sound and well-founded basis.
How can planners and engineers in building physics, building technology, and architecture help design the energy system of tomorrow—and thus support decision-makers from industry, real estate, and municipalities on the path to net zero?
2026 – Why Buildings
Are Becoming More Relevant
to the Power System
From 2026 onwards, key provisions of the revised Electricity Supply Act will come into force. Minimum remuneration for renewable electricity will be legally regulated, local electricity communities (LECs) will become possible, and the economic framework conditions for self-consumption will become clearer.
This will not transform the entire electricity market overnight. But it will shift the perspective.
With the rapid expansion of photovoltaics, a new systemic question arises: the bottleneck is no longer production, but integration. When thousands of buildings feed electricity into the grid or generate loads simultaneously, they directly affect grid stability, price formation and security of supply. Buildings thus become active elements of the energy system – not autonomous, but system-relevant.
Technologically, much is already available: photovoltaics, heat pumps, storage systems and digital energy management systems. The challenge lies less in hardware than in coordination. Who controls flexibility? How do planning, operation and the grid interact? Which incentives actually lead to system-supportive behaviour?
The energy transition in the building sector is therefore shifting from a pure efficiency question towards system integration. What matters is not only how little energy a building consumes, but how it behaves in interaction with the grid, tariff structures and users. The year 2026 does not mark a radical disruption, but a point of consolidation: technological maturity, regulatory clarity and economic signals are converging more strongly than before.
The central question is therefore: Are our buildings prepared for their new role in the energy system?
This assessment is the focus of the 24th brenet Status Seminar on 20 August 2026 in Rotkreuz (LU).
The seminar features contributions from applied research, industry and public authorities. The focus is not only on the functionality of individual technologies, but on their interaction in real operation: photovoltaics combined with storage, heat pumps in multi-family buildings, energy management at district level, load shifting in existing grids.
Key questions addressed at the brenet Status Seminar include:
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What insights are available regarding the implementation of prosumer buildings?
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What opportunities does the current state of technology offer for system-supportive integration?
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Which solutions are scalable today – and where is further development still required?
brenet Status-Seminar 2026
Research Perspectives & Future Topics
for Companies, Public Authorities, and Industry Stakeholders
Gain exclusive insights into new methods, prototypes, and market-ready solutions from applied research.
Discuss your questions with experts and connect with future partners and project collaborators.
Shape the next step in innovation for your organization.
Planned Programme Schedule
09:00 – 09:15 Welcome
09:15 – 09:40 Keynote 1
09:40 – 10:05 Keynote 2
10:05 – 10:35 Coffee Break
10:35 – 10:55 Research Presentation 1
10:55 – 11:15 Industry and Practice Input 1
11:15 – 11:35 Research Presentation 2
11:35 – 11:55 Industry and Practice Input 2
11:55 – 13:10 Lunch
13:10 – 14:25 Research Pitches
14:25 – 14:45 Research Presentation 3
14:45 – 15:05 Research Presentation 4
15:05 – 15:35 Coffee Break
15:35 – 16:20 Cooperation Forums
16:20 – 16:45 Keynote 3
16:45 – 17:00 Closing Remarks & Acknowledgements
from 17:00 Apéro / Networking Reception
The status seminar is organized by
brenet – from applied research to practice
brenet is the network of Swiss universities dedicated to accelerating the transfer of applied research into practice on the path towards net zero – with a focus on sustainable construction, renewable energy and building technologies.
brenet provides a nationwide network and the organisational framework to advance the transfer of applied research into practice. Through exchange formats, knowledge consolidation and the facilitation of concrete points of collaboration, we support our member institutes and industry stakeholders in jointly developing and implementing scalable solutions for the transition to net zero.
Currently, eight Swiss university institutes are members of brenet. brenet is an association in accordance with Art. 60 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code and was founded in 2002.
