On 19 and 20 June 2024, the fourth BungEES project meeting took place on premises of Plenitude in Santander, Spain. All project partners met to discuss about, among other things, issues related to smart energy efficiency service concept, service model innovation and new actors and implementation and data acquisition for smart energy efficiency services validation.
Meeting was accompanied by an international workshop focused on smart services in the energy sector and their integration with construction processes, whether in the context of new construction or renovation of existing buildings. By invitation from Plenitude, the workshop took place in the representative premises of “EL Sardinero” / Real Racing Club in Santander. The workshop was attended physically or online by 43 distinguished professionals, researchers and academics from several European countries – Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The main topics of the workshop were smart services in community energetics, the impact of community energetics on the electricity transmission system both nationally and internationally, and the position of the prosumer in the modern energy service delivery system, where the boundaries between energy production and consumption are blurring and individuals can play an active role on both sides. Other topics were on the impacts on the construction of housing estates and individual buildings, and on legislative, technical and financial barriers to development. Attention was also paid to the development of a tailor-made concept for smart energy efficient service offerings.
Jiří Karásek from SEVEn from the Czech Republic presented his lectures on new business models for smart energy services and their application in households. Juan Urresti from the multinational energy company Plenitude presented the FlexiSmart Home concept and highlighted the experience from its development and implementation. French expert Fabrice Sorriaux from Voltalis presented how automated micro-flexibility from the household can contribute to the electricity system and reduce individual electricity consumption and costs. The topic of contractual relationships was addressed in a talk by Mahendra Singh and Anne Kesselring from Fraunhofer, a German research institute, in which they presented the results of an analysis of customer characteristics and attitudes in the study area. Imen Gueniche from Joule Assets, Belgium, spoke at the workshop about the regulatory triggers and barriers to achieving the expected potential of smart energy efficiency services in the residential sector.
In the second part of the workshop, an expert discussion was held on the level of readiness of stakeholders for the new concept of energy efficiency services. In a panel discussion moderated by Frantisek Doktor (Viaeuropa/SK), experts Pierre Bivas (Voltalis/F ), Alicia Carrasco (ENTRA/ES), Anibal T. de Almeida (ISR/P), Pablo Castro (UC/ES) and Víctor Hernández (Plenitude/ES) took the floor.
However, the road to successful operation of comprehensive smart services in the ecosystem of energy and modern building and settlement design is not without obstacles. The aim of the workshop was also to highlight the critical points for the success of their use in practice. Smart energy services have great potential to participate in the future cost-effective and environmentally friendly use of electricity in particular, and to contribute significantly to the successful transition of territorial settlements but also countries away from fossil fuels towards clean, emission-free energy production and consumption. The participants agreed to continue workshops on the above issues in the future in other EU countries.
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