The Basque Energy Cluster’s Smart Grids Sector Forum, organised by i-DE (Iberdrola Distribución Eléctrica), gathered once again on 25 May at BEC. The session was held both in person and online, with 67 attendees (30 in person and 37 online).

Noemí Alonso, Coordinator of Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub, presented on behalf of Iberdrola the initiative’s latest breakthroughs. The initiative has already started up its first Technical Committees and Sub-Committees, and its facilities are going to be officially opened in September, with a wide range of events and activities planned for the last quarter of the year.

Then Luis Layo, Head of Innovation at i-DE and Coordinator of the Sector Forum, talked about projects that are part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience of Spanish Economy Plan (PRTR), which was presented in April, focusing on project 8, “Electrical infrastructure, promotion of smart networks and deployment of energy storage”, as it is the one that is most relevant to the members of the Forum. A total investment of €1.365 M has been allocated to this project, divided into three areas: Grid digitalisation (€525 M), which will directly benefit distribution operators; Storage (€684 M), both for the grid and for self-consumption; and Business Models (€156 M), which includes, amongst other things, implementing regulatory sandboxes, and will be channelled mainly through SMEs and startups.

The event also had a pitch session in which four partner SMEs took part: Barbara IoT, a company specialising in cybersecure Edge Computing for industry; Lumiker, specialising in fibre optic sensors based technologies; PcVue Solutions, specialising in monitoring and control SCADA software solutions; and Xabet Digital Solutions, a company that industrialises digital solutions ensuring financial return and from a Business 4.0 approach. All these companies presented their skills and projects, and showed an interest in collaborating on specific lines of work with Forum companies.

As for the Basque Energy Cluster, Managing Director José Ignacio Hormaeche presented the latest breakthroughs of the Working Group on Digital Business Models for Electricity Grids and the main conclusions of the report on the technical and economic analysis of digital solutions for electricity grids, which was developed over the last few months and is currently undergoing a consultation process with several relevant institutions and agents in the electricity sector (CNMC, Ministries, distribution operators, associations, etc.).

The initiatives promoted by the Basque Energy Cluster for the Next Generation EU funds (Expressions of Interest aimed at several Ministries) and the preliminary draft for the new Horizon Europe programme, specifically Cluster 5: Climate, Energy and Mobility, highlighting the areas and calls that are closer to the electricity sector. Regarding international events, they reviewed the status of the joint stand that the Basque Energy Cluster is organising under the brand “Smart Grids Basque Country” for the Enlit Europe, which will be held from 30 November to 2 December 2021 in Milan.

The event and the networking café that took place at the end gave members of the Forum Sector the chance to reconnect after not being able to meet in person for over a year due to the pandemic.