Significant investments in infrastructure for smart energy distribution, storage and transmission systems are underway through the Thematic Objectiveshttp://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/how/ priorities for Cohesion Policy in 2014-2020. European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support is available to improve energy efficiency and security of supply through the development of smart energy systemshttps://www.energyplan.eu/smartenergysystems/. The SET-Plan and the Energy Roadmap 2050Energy Roadmap 2050, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions, COM(2011) 855 final, 15.12.2011 also highlight the expectation that fossil fuels will continue to have a significant role in European primary energy in the foreseeable future. It is thus of utmost importance to boost energy efficiency in concert with sustainable use of effective energy sources and carriersEnergy Efficiency and its contribution to energy security and the 2030 Framework for climate and energy policy, Communication form the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, COM(2014) 520 final, 23.07.2014. However, there is a need to research the design, operation and integration of all parts of the energy system of the future in a safe and secure manner. The main focus of this section is on the technical aspects of energy systems integration. It is also important to point out that the socio-economic and human behavioural aspects are essential for energy transformation processes.

Current status

ENERGY NETWORKS The future European energy system, with an envisaged high penetration of renewables, needs a strong interplay between different energy carriers such as electricity, heating and cooling – e.g. gas and other chemical fuels. Such a system demands control and integration of intermittent production from renewable energy and variable consumption of all carriers as well as energy storage which is an important technology to stabilize the power  fluctuations and to define economically and environmentally sustainable options. Smart Grid refers to a progressive evolution of the electricity network towards “a network that can intelligently integrate the actions of all users connected to it – generators, energy storage facilities and consumers in order to efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supply and safety”. It is a combination of the grid control technology, information technology and intelligence management of generation, transmission, distribution and storage. Energy Management Systems (EMSs) are vital tools to optimally operate Smart Grids, from Micro-grids to buildings. In fact, the need for new EMSs to minimize emissions, costs, improve security at different spatial and temporal scales is the basis of the RIs in this field that implement the interaction among equipment, communication protocols, simulation and control. Over 450 demonstration projects with different RIs have been launched in Europe exploring system operation, consumer behaviour and new innovative technologies.

ENERGY STORAGE Energy Storage on different scales has a crucial role to support energy system stability and security. The energy storage market is starting to develop: costs are major constraints, as well as regulatory issues, EMSs and technology capabilities. Advanced EMSs that can coordinate distributed storage over the territory and the grid are a challenge for the development of Smart Grids and for the satisfaction of different kinds of demands – electrical, loads, thermal loads, etc. Infrastructures to support the design and evaluate Smart Grid reference architectures are highly needed. Demonstration and test of energy storage at medium and large scale, including the possibility to test completely novel components, will give practical information on the use and benefits of the energy storage technology and potential contribution to key policy goals set for Europe.

The main players in the electricity/Smart Grid arena are the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO) and the European Distribution System Operators (EDSO): they aim at implementing a flexible electrical network including a number of demonstrations, similarly to the European Technology Platform for Smart Grid. Major European universities have built up  infrastructures beyond the laboratory scale to operate in real case studies providing collaborations, hosting researchers, sharing data, exchanging lecturers, participating in common projects, delivering University masters and PhD activities. However, improved scientific exchange and collaboration should be achieved through the testing of new algorithms (EMSs)  both for designing and operational management in the RIs at international level. The main strategic research agenda challenge is to be able to build and control, through flexible and fast EMSs, an energy infrastructure which can be adapted to a large variety of production and storage systems − weather based energy production, controllable plants, storage systems − from the development of single components up to a complete energy system. Most smart energy network projects have evolved from smart meter read-out pilots into increasingly complex systems to match electrical demand with the variable electricity production of renewable sources.  However, only a few up to now are looking at the mixture of energy carriers. Focus has been limited to grid operation overlooking possible communication solutions. Therefore, energy system RIs enabling energy system tests in combination with communication technologies need to reveal their actual potential in dealing with future challenges of even more complex systems. Such test systems should combine meteorological forecasts, energy production facilities, storage devices and systems, end-user components, penetration of renewable, different energy carriers like electricity, heating/cooling and gas including market models. Having multiple electricity retailers and the freedom to switch from one electricity retailer to another are not taken into account and could be interesting in a future energy RI. Building integrated smart energy network/storage testing and demonstration infrastructure will give device companies the possibility to test new equipment and EMSs, power producers and network operators’ new knowledge about how to operate a future energy network that will strengthen the competitiveness of industry. Also, the ongoing R&D activities on storage technologies based on batteries or other storage systems, on the conversion of excess energy into chemical carriers will, in the long run, make available an integration of the technology into the wider energy system. Generally, the improvements in storage capacity and economy will promote future technologies in the Smart Grid and compare to grid extension or curtailment approaches. The results of such RI will therefore facilitate decisions on investments connected to the transformation of the energy system for companies as well as for public operators. The US, China and  Korea have large ongoing demonstrator projects with large infrastructure investments - mostly in Smart Grid and Micro-grid, establishing the capacity of testing the global competitive advantage of individual components.

EFFICIENT CLEAN TRANSPORT Transport accounts for approximately one quarter of the EU Greenhouse Gas emissions and the target is to reduce this to 60% by 2050. The electrification of private transport is starting to gain market traction; however, the roll-out has been hampered by costs, and by political and techno-economic uncertainties around the launch of charging infrastructures. Cleaner and more energy efficient vehicles are a significant growing part of the European Energy System and have an important role to play in achieving EU policy objectives of reducing energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and pollutant emissions. The Directive on the Promotion of Clean and Energy Efficient Road Transport Vehicleshttps://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/vehicles/directive_en aims at a broad market introduction of environmentally-friendly vehicles. It addresses purchases of vehicles for public transport services. Clean Transport Systems can go a long way towards meeting the future energy demands of the transport sector; however, the availability and cost of relevant raw materials – e.g. batteries – is likely to be another major issue to  overcome. Investments in transport services and infrastructure directly benefit citizens  and businesses. Smart mobility, multi-modal transport, clean transport and urban mobility are particular priorities for Cohesion Policy during the 2014-2020 funding period.  Cohesion policy also supports investments in infrastructure for smart energy distribution, storage and transmission systems (particularly in less developed regions). As covered by the public procurement Directives and the public service Regulation. It  is also possible to receive EU support for low-carbon transport investments under the Thematic Objective aimed at supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors, in particular for promoting sustainable multimodal urban  mobility.

In order to make sure that these investments achieve maximum impact, particular emphasis is placed during the 2014-2020 period on the need to ensure a sound strategic environment, including the adoption by Member States of a comprehensive transport plan that shows how projects will contribute towards the development of the Single European Transport Area and the  trans-European transport network.

Smart cities and communities and living laboratories Smart Cities and Communities emphasis has slowly advanced from energy efficiency in buildings to districts and cities. When coupled to appropriately design physical systems, including transport systems and thermal energy storage systems, ICT can contribute to effective energy use and interactive balancing of real-time energy supply and demand. Well-designed urban interactive ecosystems can become smart sustainable cities and communities that use ICT-enabled systems and tools to tackle complex environmental and sustainability challenges. H2020 is rolling out smart city lighthouse projects to demonstrate drastic improvements and interactions in urban energy (including large-scale building renovation), transport and ICT. This is to be firmly embedded in long-term city planning and user participation, and to facilitate transfer of best practices to other cities and communities. The European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIPSCC)http://ec.europa.eu/eip/smartcities/index_en.htm aims to promote integrated solutions leading to sustainability and a higher quality of life. The EERA Joint Programme on Smart Citieshttps://www.eera-sc.eu/ contributes to this purpose with new scientific methods, concepts and tools.

Projects and umbrella networks are established to improve learning between and from these pilot projects. A mapping and analysis of Smart Cities in the EU was published by the EU Directorate-General for Internal Policies in 2014http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/507480/IPOL-ITRE_ET(2014)507480_EN.pdf also defining and benchmarking smart cities. Smart Cities can leverage the work of existing EU policy and programmes – e.g. CONCERTO, CIVITAS, Covenant of Mayors, future internet and Smarter Travel, among others – and major European initiatives such as EUROCITIEShttp://www.eurocities.eu/ or the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)https://enoll.org/. Smart cities can be identified and ranked along a variety of axes or dimensions of city structures, including smart energy, smart mobility, smart people, smart governance, smart economy, smart buildings, smart health and smart education. Shared access to data, with a specific challenge focused approach could be attractive to researchers and assist urban decision makers.

GAPS, CHALLENGES AND FUTURE NEEDS

ENERGY SYSTEMS INTEGRATION – OVERVIEW. Research gaps have been identified: improving decision support tools and their data requirements; definition of key performance indicators; smart strategies for resource on demand implementation including energy storage; real time knowledge of city parameters; common data repositories; optimization and control structures to integrate energy systems in smart cities; improved design, installation and control of urban energy systems. European RD&I can take a global lead on integration of smart technologies in existing urban environments, adaptable to specific needs of users and communities. A wide variety of European cities have committed themselves to become urban laboratories to test, iterate and optimise these solutions and processes.

ENERGY NETWORKS AND STORAGE. The main gap is in the design reference architectures and modelling tools for Smart Grid control systems that involve different kinds of energy and relation to the local scale (multi-generation Low Voltage grids) that are able to deal with the combination of all use cases, including incentives to grid operator and electricity retailer in a liberalized market model whereby competing  economical players work in parallel and operate commercial ICT systems to control a common grid infrastructure. Another gap is in the research into transactional arrangements and the testing of systems such as blockchain and crypto currencies to enable energy trading across multiple platforms that are resistant to cyber security threats. Alongside the electricity network gaps mentioned above there are also gaps in  the provision of cost effective energy storage via heat, chemical and physical storage solutions. In terms of energy storage RIs on materials, production technologies and testing of battery cells and systems would be required to align with a European strategy supporting battery cell production in Europe.

SMART CITIES AND COMMUNITIES. There are no dedicated Smart Energy City or Community test bed related RIs in the ESFRI Roadmap. A solution linked to smart cities/communities initiatives could prove to be particularly pertinent and provide a strong business case for aiding future city and community designs. The same applies for FCH, as the maturity of the technologies requires RIs to comply with the applied research requirements in line with Industry’s needs, including system testing and validation. We stress the important role of ICT, as this will be crucial in several important ways and especially when promoting the networking of smart cities to leverage experience and shared learning. Data protocols for sharing high volumes of Information are needed, as well as particular attention to data privacy matters. Even more important will be how ICT will enable the future designs in urban form, services and infrastructures; moving beyond simply checking which data are available and how to best use these.

CLEAN AND EFFICIENT TRANSPORT. The focus on the need for low emission vehicles and the standardisation of testing is still a gap that needs to be filled. While the commercial vehicle developers are developing the vehicles, there is a lack of understanding on the impact and integration of large scale electrification of transport on the grid as both an energy demand management enabler – e.g. vehicle to grid, storage system integration and other forms of balancing loads and managing demand across heat, electricity and transport systems – and other distributed storage systems elements, not just of the Smart Micro-grid, but also of the broader energy  systems. As the pace of development of electric vehicles is picking up and with the evolution of autonomous vehicles, it will be important to have RIs to enable researchers to study the effects of the legal frameworks  as well as the physical Infrastructure within which these will operate.