Article

Links to EU funded projects

StoRES project

Project description (brief)

StoRES foresees the development of an optimal policy for the effective integration of photovoltaics (PV) and energy storage systems (ESS) via testing smart solutions in 5 MED islands and rural areas. StoRES aims to increase the PV penetration in the energy mix of islands and rural areas in the MED by integrating PV and ESS under an optimal market policy by removing the constraints of grid reliability and RES intermittency. The challenge is to achieve high PV penetration in their energy mix through solving all market/technical/grid/tariff issues without compromising grid stability or security of supply. The project involves regions facing specific needs and challenges: islands with isolated networks, almost 100% fossil-fuel dependency and increasing energy demand; rural areas exhibiting weaker networks, possibly greater energy needs, and higher environmental impact.

Expected Outcome

The objective is to boost PV self-consumption in the MED through an optimal storage solution. The approach is to test PV storage solutions for the consumer in different pilot sites taking into account local parameters for optimization and using efficiency measures. StoRES is expected to change the current situation concerning grid reliability with higher RES deployment in islands/rural areas giving a cost-effective option to the public on more affordable and sustainable energy supply. Public authorities will be mobilized leading to their engagement in sustainable energy strategy implementation in their jurisdictions with a truly long-term vision in mind. The MED, as the natural place for PV and where grid parity is a reality, has the opportunity to pioneer in testing such technologies in real time with authorities ready to contribute. This endeavor will increase socio-economic competitiveness of regions involved; most importantly will have an international impact as new knowledge for optimum PV-ESS interoperability is transferred to a broader geographical context where grid parity has not reached yet.

Deloitte’s role

Our Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre provides its assistance in the project’s overall management, communication and dissemination activities.
 

Development of innovative educational material for Building-integrated Photovoltaics (Dem4BiPV)

Project description (brief)
Currently a gap exists in the knowledge and skills of graduate architects, engineers, planners and designers etc. in relation to BIPV system installation. This project addresses this gap by developing educational material on BIPV for a broad group of stakeholders. The project runs from September 2015 to August 2018. The project's specific objective is to develop innovative educational material for higher education on the important topic of BIPV while its ultimate aim is to improve the quality and relevance of higher education to the labor market needs, since there is currently a gap in the knowledge and skills of graduate architects, engineers, planners and designers etc. in relation to BIPV system installation.

Moreover, the intellectual outputs and outcomes of the project including the development of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), the design and deployment of remote labs, are in line with the horizontal priority of enhancing digital integration in learning. All in all we anticipate that through the project the offering of high quality learning opportunities for students in higher education will be enhanced, particularly on an energy-related topic, which is of major importance at an EU and international level in the medium and long term.

Main outputs
Output 1: Framework and Requirements’ Analysis
Output 2: Didactic content for Students
Output 2: Didactic content for Students
Output 4: Development of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) & Course adaptation
Output 5: Deployment of remote labs

Deloitte’s role
Our Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre participates actively in this project as a Partner responsible for Quality Management. Moreover, we contribute substantially in all intellectual outputs and particularly in the activities concerning the analysis of framework and requirements (IO1). We also play a catalytic role in terms of the valorization of project activities in a local context, bridging the gap between academia and the business sector.

This project is funded by the KA2 Strategic Partnerships for higher education programme of Erasmus+ under contract 2015-1-NL01-KA203-008882.

European Personal Branding for Employment (EPBE)

The European Personal Branding for Employment (EPBE) project main aim is to encourage employment among young students through the acquisition of digital skills using innovative and learner-centred pedagogical approaches and enhancing digital integration in learning, teaching, training and youth work at various levels: promoting access to and learning through Open Educational Resources (OER) in order to build up an on-line personal brand and using effectively job hunting 4.0 techniques. In particular, supporting teachers, trainers, and youth students and supporting digital integration in learning to reach audiences promoting effective job search, access to the labor market and the acquisition of a series of digital skills they can use throughout their careers.

The project contributions are the following outputs and training activities:

  • Toolkit of reusable MOOCS didactical contents for trainers.
  • Training Activity: Use of ICT for training Personal Branding and Job Hunting 4.0- as new forms of personalized learning and a strategic use of open educational resources.
  • Training activity: Methodologies in distance and blended learning.

As part of the project outputs, the Toolkit of reusable MOOCS didactical contents for trainers, which is a free repository of information, tools, resources, models, examples, and research related to designing and developing a Massive Open Online Course is currently available at: http://epbe.eu/product/toolkit

Following the project’s kick-off meeting in Madrid during November of 2015, the EPBE project consortium has since organized two transnational meetings (Rome and Athens) in order to discuss the development of the project. The objective of both meetings was the review of all completed tasks up to now, as well as the organization of future tasks and establishment of deadlines. It is expected that by July 2017 both the “Personal Branding” and the “Job Hunting 4.0” courses will be released for the public. The fourth and last meeting will take place in Barcelona between the 1st and 2nd of June 2017.

SmartPV

“Smart net metering for promotion and cost-efficient grid integration of PV technology in Cyprus” (SmartPV)

Project Description (brief):

SmartPV Project which is co-financed by the EU through the LIFE+ Programme (Environment, Policy, and Governance) will thoroughly investigate pilot net metering schemes for cost-effective PV implementation and higher grid penetration in Cyprus of distributed generation with the target of achieving a WIN-WIN scenario for both consumers and energy utilities. Essentially, the project will put to the test, evaluate and disseminate a simple and timely concept (net metering) which should be more widely applied in Europe under appropriate, customized circumstances.

The project will aim to highlight and understand the impact of smart net metering implementation on consumer billing options, consumption sensitivities, consumer energy-related behaviours, and cost and benefit implications for network owners and operators (financial impact). For this purpose, energy consumption and production profiles of about 300 consumers-producers (prosumers) and 3000 “smart” consumers in Cyprus will be examined. The latter category will involve consumers without PV systems installed who will accept smart metering to take place in their households for investigating any behavioural changes in energy consumption caused by the presence of the informative and interactive smart meter.

Deloitte’s role:

Deloitte Grants & Incentives Unit participates as a Project Partner, with the overall responsibility of Actions C2 “Monitoring of the Project’s Socio-Economic Impact” and E2 “Networking and information platforms”. In addition, the cost-benefit analysis to be presented to stakeholders will be undertaken, within the scope of Action B3 “Data analysis and dynamic tariff model validation”. Finally, Deloitte supports the Consortium on the whole range of Project and Financial Management activities, as well as Communication & Dissemination. 

HOMER

Harmonising Open Data in the Mediterranean through better access and reuse of Public Sector Information (HOMER)

Project Description (brief):

HOMER is the strategic MED project that focuses on the theme of Open Data, a world-wide policy aiming at making available and exploitable Public Sector Information (PSI). The overall goal of HOMER is to contribute to unlock the full potential of the Public Sector Information in the Mediterranean space, by contributing to make the all area a competitive territory, able to match global competition and to ensure a sustainable growth and employment for the next generations. In line with the EU Digital Agenda, HOMER will facilitate the wider deployment of PSI in Spain, Italy, France, Malta, Greece, Slovenia, Cyprus and Montenegro, enabling their public governments to better address the legal, cultural and technological challenges linked to PSI policy. Starting from exposing five strategic sectors (Agriculture, Tourism, Environment, Energy and Culture), HOMER during its first phase will be able to open hundreds of public datasets, enhancing digital heritage transparency across the Mediterranean.

Deloitte’s role:

Deloitte Grants & Incentives Unit participates in the project as an external expert of the Sewerage Board of Limassol – Amathus (the Cypriot Partner), with the responsibility of implementing a series of activities including: Project and Financial Management, a Socio-Economic Impact Study (http://homerproject.eu/docs/Homer_Socioeconomic_Study_FV3.pdf), a Federated Open Data Portal (www.sbla-opendata.com.cy), Pilot Action B “Participation of citizens in the definition of Projects and Policies through the co-elaboration of new Solutions” (http://homerproject.eu/project/pilot-actions), and a Strategic Open Data Action Plan for the Cyprus. 

Age 50+

“Active Generation 50 ” (AGE)

Project Description (brief):

This project deals with age management and strives for identification of tools and methods aimed at extending the activity period of people aged 50+. The project which focuses on both employed and unemployed people, is focused on the close cooperation between partner organizations from EU countries including Cyprus, Germany, Finland, Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic in the field of needs, barriers, motivation and education of this group. Project activities will also reach educational institutions and employers that will share good practices.

Research Report

Deloitte’s role:

Deloitte Grants & Incentives Unit participates in AGE as a Project Partner, being a key expert in conducting research and analyses, with the responsibility of preparing a study on the topic of learning opportunities for adults over the age of 50 and learning tools available that can be transferred from one country to another. 

PV-NET

“Promotion of PV energy through net metering optimization” (PV-NET)

Project Description (brief):

The project aims at developing a better energy policy for the promotion of RES in the Mediterranean area, targeting the best and most cost-efficient use of PV technology. The project focuses on optimizing smart energy management systems in order to create alternative, economical, sustainable measures in harmonizing and reassessing the existing Support Schemes including governmental subsidies or grants. Through the implementation of the project PV-NET, the net metering schemes will be optimized in each MED area involved, taking into account local conditions and strategies for energy pricing. Pilot PV net metering systems will be installed in Cyprus, Slovenia and Portugal on different types of buildings (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.). The aim is to study the energy policy of each region in order to develop the most optimum PV net metering model and to analyze the data generated by the pilot plants. Data on consumption and tariffs will be selected and therefore will be studied and compared. The data series that will be collected will be used to optimize the model, which will be applicable in each region. Thus, the pilots will be used to demonstrate and prove the benefits of PV net metering by validating different models.

Did you find this useful?