InterConnect: more efficient energy management for all users

This new H2020 project promotes the digital convergence and interoperability of smart homes and the electricity grid in order to deliver more efficiency to consumers' usage of energy. CyberGrid is now partnering in a visionary EU-wide project, playing an active role in the future of smart energy management solutions. Converging digitalized homes, buildings and electric grids into a smart user-experience will bring benefits to all energy users, whether they are located in a private, industrial or commercial setting.

The InterConnect project was kicked off in October 2019, and it is headed by the Portuguese INESC TEC research & development institute. The consortium’s activities are designed to bring efficient energy management within reach of end-users by generating interoperable solutions connecting smart homes, buildings and grids. End-users have increasingly gained awareness and control over their energy appliances, but interoperability has been a challenge. End-users should be able to pick and alternate between their technology providers, without having to replace their installation every time. In addition, consumers should still be able to use energy in a sustainable manner while also benefiting from technological innovations.

The solutions mapped out within the scope of InterConnect will thus pave the way for an architecture based on the Internet of Things (IoT) for the digitalization of homes, buildings and electric grids. Seven connected large-scale  test-sites in Portugal, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and France will prove the viability of these smart energy management solutions.

CyberNoc software's contribution

CyberGrid will lead efforts to integrate all 7 pilot demonstrations to enable cross-border exchanges of flexibility information with the CyberNoc software solution. Apart from developing algorithms, CyberGrid will offer its expertise on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and emerging Distribution System Operators (DSO) ancillary service markets. Based on these activities, flexibility enablers and associated constraints will be identified and further defined so that a flexible and interoperable ecosystem can emerge where demand-side flexibility is integrated with effective benefits to end-users.

CyberGrid’s participation in numerous EU-wide R&D projects drives the development of affordable and green technology solutions to reduce fossil-based energy sources, to enhance interoperability between providers, and to secure energy supply as a whole.