Empowerment of the stakeholders in the implementation of the Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources in term of energy storages and energy networks stability (ESINERGY)

https://interreg-danube.eu/projects/esinergy

Project consortium:

Local energy agency Pomurje, Slovenia
Smart house, institution for research and sustainable development Martjanci, Slovenia
Medjimurje Energy Agency Ltd., Croatia
Medjimurje County, Croatia
Energy and Innovation Centre of Weiz, Austria
B.A.U.M. Consult GmbH, Germany
Electricity Company Hindelang, Germany
IMRO-DDKK Nonprofit Ltd., Hungary
Zala County Self-Government, Hungary
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities, Bulgaria
Romanian Association for Technology Transfer and Innovation, Romania
RARIS – Regional Development Agency Eastern Serbia, Serbia
Sarajevo economic regional development agency, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Environmental Protection Fund of Montenegro, Montenegro
Association “Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine”, Ukraine

Funded: Danube Region Programme; Programme priority: A greener, low-carbon Danube Region
Budget: 2,508,094.99 EUR
Duration: 30 months (01.01.2024 – 30.06.2026)

Background:

ESINERGY helps to solve one of the key issues in modern energy technology, this is to manage the imbalance between the generated power and the load into the electrical network, which is not adequate for the forthcoming needs such as rising consumption, energy demand etc. This challenge affects in particular energy providers, grid operators, all energy prosumers e.g. municipalities, companies, farms, households and indirectly regional and national public authorities that should deal with it on the structural and systematic way within the planning potentials. In fact, they are affected to such an extent that the connection of further (larger) PV-systems (energy production systems) is not possible in some areas because the grid already operates at its limit. Partners coming from 12 Danube programme countries will benefit from the investment and project activities. To diminish the barrier they will jointly cooperate in a compromise between local autonomy and centralized decision making. The organizations seek a balance between the pressures to integrate globally and response from a local audience.

Project aims: to demonstrate the main approaches to decrease the peak load that reduce the energy upload to the electrical network and at the same time empower the energy producers on integrating such methods in their independent energy systems and integrate the results and change accordingly in the national/ regional/local polices in order to correctly implement the Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.

Project will introduce first the pilot approaches to reduce the peak loads directly in electrical networks, so that the producers could use the energy for own purposes (heat pumps, energy storages, charging stations, energy communities which can balance quite well differences of generation and demand) and support self-supply. Afterwards, the policy planning referring to peak loads will be improved through transnational strategy so that the measures could be replicated in other areas. All outputs will contribute to the solutions focusing on when the energy is used and to the cost reduction.

Project Specific Objectives:

Reducing the peak loads by pilot actions: The specific objective aims to make the regions greener and energy independent by introducing the pilot action measures based on the different approaches for reduction of the energy feed-in the electrical network, to reduce peak loads by energy prosumers, maximize the performance of their PV systems, and achieve energy independence on the basis of several included pilots from the various sectors that use renewable energy sources.

Transnational strategy for reduction of peak loads and the correct implementation of the Directive: Development of the joint strategy and action plan (Master plan) for better managing and implementation of the approaches for reduction of the energy feed-in and rightful implementation of the Directive based on the pilot actions.

Transferring of the results and policy support activities: Improving national, regional and local energy planning for enhanced governance by adoption of the strategy and action plan while transferring the solutions in the new areas. Additionally, the objective is also to propose solutions based on executed and tested pilot activities that stakeholders and target groups can accept and replicate in their own environments.

Project Outputs:

Cooperating institutions supporting for the peaks load reduction
Pilot approaches to optimize the peak loads and boost the energy independence
Transnational Master plan for decreasing the peak loads in electrical networks
Policy brief solution set-up for better managing and optimising the peak loads and proper Directive implementation.

A big part of the mentioned challenges can be solved with approaches to smoothing peak loads of the electrical network. In the project only some solutions will be demonstrated according to the situation and needs in each region. Therefore, 8 various pilot actions will be implemented in the early phase of the project: in SI the charging station will be installed, in HU, HR, BG, BIH the energy will be saved in the storages, while others (AT, DE) will invest in the optimisation of the energy management which can smartly operate all components in the comprehensive systems, UA pilot will reduce peak load with the heat pumps. The pilots refer to different energy prosumers: public (regional (HR) and local (HU) authorities, public hospital (UA), campus (AT), electro producer (BIH) and private buildings (SI).

The results obtained from the pilot implementations and on the basis of evaluation (based on predefined qualitative and quantitative indicators) will be used in the preparation of transnational Master plan (strategy and action plan). This document will strategically position measures against reducing peak loads in the DRP countries. This means that the solutions we will test as part of the pilot implementation will demonstrate what to improve in the national/regional/local policy instruments, how to properly implement the Directive in involved DPR country to satisfied the energy prosumers and let them become energy self-sufficient when applying the pilot approaches in their environment and not be charged for the network fee according to the Directive. In the frame of the Master plan development also the novelties for the policies will be presented such as V2G systems that are not yet allowed in some DRP countries (e.g. Slovenia).

The project is addressing two target groups:

Energy prosumers:

to present them the investments where their PV system becomes an independent system, a sustainable solution that avoids the shock of PV system owners when electricity will no longer be billed on an annual basis
to remind them of what they should pay attention to (e.g. that an investment with a battery makes more sense, since there is no guarantee that the purchase price of energy will be high and that their energy consumption will be less than produced)
to present many examples of smart energy storage (e.g. a car can serve as a battery)
to reach users with various awareness, therefore it makes sense to have a smart set of examples of electricity storage (pilot examples throughout the implementation of the project) to communicate with them and convince users
To show users how to secure their investment based on project and pilot experiences, with the aim of avoiding excessively long payback periods for investing in a PV system without batteries

Policy makers (national, regional, local level):

Preparation of a strategy that includes experiences from pilots and shows a contribution to a stable, independent network and to the elimination of network loads, which is written in the regulation. The document will be prepared together with guidelines, instructions and an action plan that envisages steps to implement the strategy in the future.
The strategy will be an umbrella document that will influence member states, where decision makers will be warned to observe and implement the articles of the directive and integrate only these into their national policies, legislation, directives, tenders and support schemes.

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/@InterregESINERGY

Linkedin link: http://linkedin.com/company/interreg-esinergy