**6. Conclusions**

This paper proposes a novel quantitative approach for the rating of the load shifting potential of smart districts and discusses qualitative and quantitative assessments related to energy load shifting at building and district level. The topic emerged from the new regulations in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) where a smart readiness indicator (SRI) has been defined in order to rate buildings according to their ability to operate and communicate efficiently with energy grids. Current proposal on the rating of the SRI are mainly focused on qualitative approaches based on the assessments of experts. Also, they mainly focus on buildings without taking larger entities into account. As previous studies have shown, there is a clear need for a quantitative approach to allow objectivity and comparability of the results. The methodology proposed in this publication addresses this research gap. It builds on a previously published quantitative approach for smart buildings and extends the application to bigger entities. It also includes findings from stakeholder consultation and provides an improved version, taking efficiency standards related to energy storage systems into account. The novel *SRIDist* can be used to assess whole districts based on their overall energy storage capacity, load shifting potential and their ability to actively interact with the energy grids. In addition, it provides an approximation for CO2 savings in relation to a non-interactive system. The key aspect of the methodology is an application that integrates the use of building and energy data, that is relatively easily available without the need for monitored data that is either difficult to access or not available at all at an early planning stage. The methodology also does not rely on specific systems, but rather on qualities of a system, thus making the approach suitable for future technologies. The application in a theoretical district use case shows a logical distribution of SRI results across the different scenarios and supports the meaningfulness of an approximation of complex data within a comparable indicator. With a simple rating, load shifting potentials in districts can be more easily assessed, thus leading to a potentially higher integration of renewable energy sources with a volatile generation capacity. The research subsequently contributes with a theoretical framework to the increased exploitation of load shifting capacities in building and districts.

**Author Contributions:** Author D.Ö. contributed mainly to the conceptualization, methodology, writing of the original draft, review, and editing. Author T.M. contributed mainly to the methodology, the formal analysis, the validation, and the writing of the original draft. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research is partly funded under the framework of the project "UrbanEnerPlan-Impact of urban planning related framework conditions on energy and resource-efficiency of new residential building developments in Vienna–Quantification of energy and urban planning related influencing factors" under the City of Vienna Jubilee Funds for the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.

**Acknowledgments:** Supported by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Open Access Publishing Fund.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
