What is EERA JP Smart Grids?

 

The EERA Joint Programme on Smart Grids is a collaboration among major European universities and public research organizations aimed to accelerate Smart Grids development and deployment in Europe, in line with the goals of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan).

 

MISSION

By means of an extended cross-disciplinary cooperation involving many Research and Development (R&D) participants with different and complementary expertise and facilities, the JP on Smart Grids aims to be an important player in the Smart Grids field and to act as collector and contact point for the Smart Grids research in Europe. In line with the general strategy of EERA, the JP addresses a medium to long term research perspective and its members collaborate, share information, team up together and align their research priorities towards the key SET-Plan objectives and targets of rearrangement the European energy system to foster the reduction of the electricity costs and increase the quality and reliability of supply.

 

WHAT ARE SMART GRIDS?

According to the IEA “a Smart Grid is an electricity network that uses digital and other advanced technologies to monitor and manage the transport of electricity from all generation sources to meet the varying electricity demands of end users. Smart Grids  coordinate the needs and capabilities of all generators, grid operators, end users and electricity market stakeholders to operate all parts of the system as efficiently as possible, minimising costs and environmental impacts while maximising system reliability, resilience, flexibility and stability”. 

The focus of the development and deployment of Smart Grids initiatives in European countries are linked with the main commitment to achieve the net-zero emissions goal by 2050 contained in the Clean Energy for all Europeans package and in particular with the Electricity market design reform which seeks to establish a modern design for Europe's electricity market.

OUR STORY

The EERA Joint Programme on Smart Grids was officially launched at the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) Conference in Madrid in June 2010, and is coordinated by RSE. 

At present, 34 members from 18 different European countries are participating in the JP on Smart Grids. Each participant has a wide experience in specific fields pertaining to smart grids, important research infrastructures and relevant ongoing research activities, funded by national or European resources.

Sub-Programmes

The JP SG is organized in the following five Sub-Programmes (SP) which aim to cover the different aspects of the Smart Grid field and have also been thought to be in correlation with the ETIP-SNET working groups activity:

Investment in smart grids need to more than double through to 2030 to get on track with the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario, especially in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs).
International Energy Agency (IEA)