EDP R&D: A Decade of Innovation Driving the Energy Transition

Friday 18, July 2025

3 min read

At EDP we know electricity is a commodity. That’s exactly why innovation and R&D are at the core of what we do. R&D and innovation, with a pinch of knowledge, technology and collaboration, are key ingredients for the energy transition.

EDP decided to create its R&D center back in 2015. Looking 10 years back… was it worth it? What did we achieve? And what’s next?

Back in 2015, SENSIBLE demonstrated how batteries and other flexible technologies spread across our distribution grids or bundled with DG at our clients’ premises, orchestrated in the wright way, could enhance system resilience. E-NEURON and IANOS drank from this experience and are taking micro-grids do the next level.

TALOS, ROMAIN, ATLANTIS or AEROSUB anticipated the need for automation and robotics for example in O&M of our wind and solar assets, onshore and offshore. Through EU-SYSFLEX or XFLEXHYDRO we’ve explored flexibility in our hydro-wind-solar-storage portfolio to the fullest and are in the process of scaling it up.

With EV4EU and DRIVE2X we’re learning how to combine mobility and flexibility, ensuring system stability while keeping our clients happy and energized!

Indeed, we were able to anticipate trends and spearhead a coalition of “good guys and girls” that helped materialize said trends, experiment technologies and generate knowledge. A big shout out also to the European Commission as R&D funding was an important part to make this happen.

But was that enough? Should we stop there?

No. If the past and present were all about anticipation and creating an R&D infrastructure, the future must be one of acceleration and impact. We need to leverage all the knowledge we generate and use it as a platform to create novel products and services, that help us lead the energy transition, serve our clients and ensure affordability and system resilience.

By combining R&D and Innovation into our recent Global Research and Innovation function we hope to infuse innovation with knowledge and technology while sparking business drive, acceleration and impact into R&D. We believe this energy innovation powerhouse will be remembered for its great ideas but also for its drive to implement and enable a sustainable energy future.

Ideas, talent and experimentation meet business cases, acceleration and impact. As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of EDP’s R&D center, let’s think about the next 10 years to come and make sure we build on knowledge to create impact.