Key data
Duration: 48 meses
Overall budget: 6.3M €
Consortium:EDP NEW, EDPC and SEL
EU Grant: 5.7M €
Objectives
The objective of eNeuron is to develop innovative tools for the optimal design and operation of LECs (local Energy Communities) integrating DER and multiple energy carriers at different scales which will benefit:
- Local distributed producers and consumers: reduction of energy costs while leveraging local, low carbon energy.
- Developers and solution providers: new opportunities for technologies as part of an integrated, replicable operational business model.
- DSOs: benefit from avoiding grid congestion and deferring network investments.
The e-NEURON pilots
- City of Bydgoszcz – Poland: an urban district where a local energy market and the provision of ancillary services will be tested, leveraging the aggregated flexibility from 15 secondary substations and a CHP from a waste processing plant
- Skagerak Energy Lab – Norway: an industrial facility (football stadium) where the multi-criteria optimisation of a confined energy system's operation will be tested, by managing embedded assets from several energy vectors, such as 800kWp PV and 1MWh BESS
- Lisbon's Naval Base – Portugal: a large military campus where a multi Hub aggregation system will be tested, to manage a plural system of micro-energy hubs aggregating energy and flexibility from local DR (industrial and residential loads) and DG (1MW PV) for local energy and flexibility forecasting and harvesting, P2P trading and grid services provision, local congestion avoidance and voltage support
- Montedago site in Ancona – Italy: a cluster of university campuses where a multi Hub aggregation system will be tested, to manage a plural system of micro-energy hubs aggregating energy and flexibility from CHP and HCPV for optimal DER scheduling and dispatching
Lisbon's Naval Base demo site
Highlights
- eNeuron is led by ENEA and counts with 17 partners from 8 different European countries (Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain)
- EDP is responsible for the Portuguese pilot
- EDP Comercial and SEL are EDP LABELEC third parties
EDP Labelec’s scope
- EDP Labelec will be focused on the management of the technical development and implementation of the Portuguese pilot, in Lisbon’s Naval Base.
- EDP Labelec will be involved in the solution specification and for the pilots’ requirements definition.
- EDP Labelec will give contributions throughout the project, namely in the development of the concept as well as business models and the economic evaluation, exploitation and replication.
Consortium
Networks: The backbone of energy transition
by Hugo Morais, Researcher at INESC ID Research Institute and Associate Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon University
The world is shifting toward a sustainable future, with electrical power grids at the centre of the energy transition. The symbiosis between electric grids and communication infrastructure forms the backbone that supports the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Networks must enable the integration of decentralized energy resources, making them indispensable for achieving global energy and climate goals.
Several changes are necessary to achieve energy transition goals, including the shift from centralized, fossil-fuel-based power generation to decentralized, renewable energy systems. Solar panels on rooftops, wind farms in remote areas, and electric vehicle batteries acting as storage units exemplify this transformation. However, this shift introduces new challenges in the planning and operation of electrical power grids due to the intermittency and volatility of generation technologies relying on natural resources, as well as the high uncertainty introduced by factors such as electric vehicle charging times and energy requirements. To address these challenges, several aspects must evolve, including enhanced coordination among stakeholders, improved interoperability between systems, hierarchical decision-making frameworks, the development of new services considering new market architectures and flexibility types, and empowering, informing and engaging consumers. These advancements will be crucial in ensuring a seamless and efficient transition to a sustainable energy future.
Despite the challenges already identified, it is important to mention that upgrading aging infrastructure requires substantial investment, while ensuring that modern infrastructures should coexist with existing ones and the systems should ensure the required reliability levels and improve their resilience against extreme events and cyber-attacks. In this regard the digitalization of the monitoring and control systems and the adoption of artificial intelligence-based algorithms can play an important role providing advanced decision support tools that can support the operation of the grids.
In summary, electrical power grids are a key infrastructure in the energy transition enabling the electrification of end uses and the integration of several renewable-based generation technologies.
