Europe is moving towards more sustainable, decentral and digital energy grids. Cities face the task of coordinating the local transition of renewable energy generation and storage while maintaining grid stability. Integration between energy vectors (heat, electricity) is necessary to enable wider flexibility and improved efficiency. The North Sea Region (NSR) is leading the way, as many novel technologies and business models have been successfully demonstrated. But as the region prepares the transition, new challenges related to governance, finance and technology choices arise.
No single organisation has the expertise or ability to experiment with a broad range of technologies, governance and financing models. To achieve these objectives, local authorities Amersfoort (NL), West-Suffolk Councils (UK), Malmö (SE) and Mechelen (BE) will jointly explore and demonstrate how scaled approaches could be achieved. Examples include local energy community hubs, peer-to-peer energy trading models, and local collaborative planning tools. Support from four knowledge partners (Aarhus University, Johanneberg Science Park, IfM ECS, VITO) will provide expertise and structure.
Together, this will result in a systematic upscaling approach, that delivers pathways and action plans to enable the energy grids transition, transferable to other authorities in the region.
Johanneberg Science Park was coordinating an UIA project, called FED -Fossil-free Energy Districts. The project aimed to reduce primary energy consumption and fossil peaks by establishing a local market place for electricity, heating and cooling together with eight local partners during 2017-2019. Proposed solutions contain advancements in system development and operation, business logistics, legal framework as well as stakeholders’ acceptance.
In ACCESS Johanneberg Science Park provide expertise from the FED-project. Best practices and lessons learned will be used as basis for pilot development and operation, boosting the cooperation between several stakeholder.
For more information, please contact;
Stina Rydberg, Project Manager
+46 709 54 14 89 stina.rydberg@johannebergsciencepark.com LinkedIn