The AGERAR PLUS European project held its final results presentation and closing event in Seville, following three years of cooperation between Spain and Portugal to promote smarter, more flexible and more participatory electricity grids.

The event, held on 1 July at the University of Seville’s Higher Technical School of Engineering, brought together 45 professionals from the energy sector, universities, technology centres, public administrations, companies and stakeholders involved in the energy transition.

CTA (Andalusian Technology Corporation) is a partner in this European initiative, which has spent 36 months developing solutions to improve the integration of renewable energy, energy storage, flexible demand and digital tools into smart grids.

Innovation for a more flexible energy system

The event provided an opportunity to share the key progress made by the project and to analyse the role of small and medium-sized prosumers, energy communities and digital technologies in the evolution of the electricity system.

The institutional opening was attended by Andrés Jesús Martínez Donaire, director of the University-Business Secretariat at the University of Seville; Manuel Larrasa, president of the Andalusian Energy Agency; Paulo Santos, from the Instituto Superior de Engenharia at the University of the Algarve; and Carlos Bordons, professor at the University of Seville.

During the meeting, the partners presented the main results of AGERAR PLUS, including the development of six digital tools for advanced energy planning and management, the validation of solutions in the laboratory and in real-world environments, and the application of energy monitoring, control and storage technologies.

The project has also developed advanced control algorithms and virtual twins aimed at optimising energy use, improving system reliability and facilitating the integration of small and medium-sized prosumers into smart grids.

One of the most notable validation environments has been the Portuguese island of Culatra, which has served as a representative setting for testing solutions related to advanced energy management and the integration of renewables.

Results and transfer to the energy ecosystem

Over the course of its three-year implementation, AGERAR PLUS has produced eight scientific publications and has promoted knowledge transfer initiatives, specialist conferences and opportunities for collaboration between universities, technology centres, companies and stakeholders in the electricity system across the Spain–Portugal cross-border region.

“AGERAR PLUS demonstrates that cross-border cooperation between Spain and Portugal is key to moving towards a smarter, more flexible and participatory energy system. The results obtained bring research closer to the market and offer concrete tools to facilitate the integration of small and medium-sized prosumers into smart grids,” said Ascensión Zafra Cabeza, from the University of Seville.

The event concluded with a round-table discussion on business perspectives, focusing on energy communities, storage and demand flexibility, during which the main barriers and opportunities for transferring the project’s results to the market and public policy were addressed.