ENLIT Europe is one of the biggest industry fairs and conferences in the area of energy in Europe that addresses every aspect of the energy agenda. In 2022, the event was held in Frankfurt, Germany, from 29 November to 1 December. The event hosted over 18,000 visitors, 700 international exhibitors, more than 250 international utilities, 14 country pavilions, and 113 countries. 55 EU-funded R&I projects took part in the event and were displayed in the EU Project Zone – a meeting place for all energy-related projects.

SYNERGY at ENLIT

Ugo Stecchi of ETRA I+D, SYNERGY’s project coordinator, has provided us with overview of the ENLIT participation and the hopes for the coming year.

What was the main objective of participating in the ENLIT Conference? 

“SYNERGY Project has renewed its participation at ENLIT conference again in 2022, as one of the most important events in Europe to meet all relevant stakeholders in the energy industry and present and share the results achieved so far in the project. From our Innovation Action project perspective, through the ENLIT participation it is possible on one hand to get in touch with the industry world, discover the technology trends and the off the shelf solutions at real-life problems. On the other hand, it is always interesting to be in a common forum with more European research and innovation projects and discuss about the state of the art in power and energy systems, while sharing visions and approaches to deal with current and upcoming challenges for the energy transition.”

How was the SYNERGY project presented at the ENLIT Conference?

We have been present to ENLIT with a project booth in the European Project Zone. Apart from ETRA as Project Coordinator, the event the Technical Coordinator Suite5 and the Communication and Dissemination Leader Smart Innovation Norway were present at the event as well, contributing to engage attendees and improve the communication to other stakeholders. 

Moreover, during the first day of the conference, it was my pleasure to present the main achievements of SYNERGY project in a workshop dedicated to the digitalization of the energy sector. The EU Commission is determined to make the union ‘Fit for the Digital Age’. During this decade, the EU will strengthen its position in the digital arena and set standards. Data and Digitalization have a huge impact on the entire energy value chain, from generation to transport, distribution and consumption. Projects like SYNERGY are therefore important to contribute in this kind of discussion in order to focus on the topic and provide the community with feasible solutions for all our needs.

Finally, SYNERGY has been involved in the ENLIT podcast interview, where it was possible to introduce the novel framework platform, in response to the need for “end-to-end” coordination between the electricity stakeholders. In a nutshell, the framework references significant data architecture that leverages data, coming from diverse sources, enabling advanced analytics and services at the core of new data-driven business opportunities.

What was the outcome (s) of this event participation for the project? 

As previously explained, it was a great opportunity to get in touch with other R&I projects and EC representatives to understand the current state of the energy transition and what are answers expected to the main problems for the next years. 

The main topic at the centre of all the discussions was the data. It was undoubtedly the most recurrent object of talk and debate in a direct or indirect way and under several perspectives. Privacy, federation, sovereignty and intelligence are only the most relevant words associated to the data and they are representative of the main topics of discussion. 

As a matter of fact data-driven power system modernization is a priority this year across the energy industry. But as the shift to renewables gathers pace, it must be ensured a proper and ethic use of all data generated. Therefore, energy sector in Europe should be able to face a double challenge at the same time: increase the renewables shares to meet the climate goals, while preserving the privacy of the data owners, that means ensuring IT infrastructure is fit for this complex purpose.

Why do you think participation in the ENLIT conference was significant?

ENLIT is the kind of place to be if you are working in such areas because of the participation of all actors and stakeholders involved in the energy sector. In recent year the presence of the EC representatives with delegates from many H2020 and Horizon Europe projects has enriched the event bringing the contribution of the R&I world and the vision of the European policy the point of view. Indeed it represents one of the main event in the energy domain and, as a big-data for energy project as SYNERGY is, it is definitely worth to participate share the main outcomes and lessons learnt from our project.

Thus, the SYNERGY project’s participation at ENLIT Europe 2022 provided a valuable opportunity to engage with the energy industry and R&I community, share our project outcomes, and learn about the latest technology trends and solutions. We look forward to continuing our engagement with the energy industry and collaborating with stakeholders to advance the energy transition.