The Interreg Northwest Europe (NWE) programme STorage of Energy and Power Systems (STEPS) comes to an end in September 2023. As part of the closing of the project, the STEPS partners organized a final event for all partners and the advisory committee of the project. This final event took place on the 6th and 7th of July 2023, in Kilkenny, Ireland. The programme was full with inspiring presentations, pitches and brainstorms.
Day 1
The first day started with a word of welcome of our Lead partner Oost NL, who gave us an overview of what the STEPS project has achieved over the past years with the infographic below. After this, the Interreg NWE Joint Secretariat Luka Messmer gave a presentation on the STEPS programme within Interreg, as well as some information on the current programme, priorities and network platform.
Michael Doran from South-East Energy Agency, the host of the final event, gave a presentation on what they have learned from the STEPS programme. This gave some very interesting insights on the problem of grid congestion, the prospects of the electricity use in Ireland and the indispensable role for storage in the future of a sustainable energy system.
Third up was a presentation from Niall O’Brolchain, NUIG, on policy recommendations. Over the past years, we have been demanding a higher and higher production of renewable energy. However, we cannot use all this energy all without storage. At times we produce too much and at other times not enough, which is why storage capacity is necessary. However, besides technical R&D, there is a lot societal changes needed, and policies play a crucial role here.
After a short coffee break, the day continued with pitches of the STEPS advisory committee. Energy experts from the Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland, the German Landes Energie Agentur, Irish university NUIG and Bax & Company gave pitches to the STEPS partners on the most pressing energy (storage) issues are in their view. Subjects in the pitches were legal regulations for energy storage, that can complicate innovation or growth; the necessity but difficulty of long-time storage; and the power of learning by doing to get knowledge into practice. The pitches emphasized the importance of projects like STEPS to stimulate cross border cooperation and knowledge exchange to strengthen the position of the European energy storage sector, and specifically of SMEs.
After lunch, the partners and the advisory committee split into five smaller groups to further discuss the insights of the morning programme, as well as brainstorming about future projects. Luka gave some practical advice from the Interreg side on subjects and deadlines for the current Interreg programme. Which was useful, because the plenary conversation about the group-discussions showed a lot of enthusiasm and ideas for future projects. Both the partners and advisory committee members are eager to put the knowledge build up in the STEPS programme into practice! The project-part of day 1 concluded with an inspirational talk of Michael Doran.
Day 2
The second day of the final STEPS event was dedicated to the successes achieved within the past three years of project. The morning started with a presentation of the innovative STEPS Energy Storage Simulation Tool, that was developed by the University of Ghent. This free web-based application is designed to assist users in determining the optimal size for energy storage systems. The presentation showed how it was developed with a strong focus on accuracy and practicality, and how it offers valuable insights for both commercial users and academic researchers.
The presentation of the University of Ghent was followed by Folivora Energy, a Spin-off from the Technical University of Darmstadt. Based on research done within the STEPS project, Folivora Energy has developed an energy management system that incorporates data from the energy system, the energy market and the weather to predict future system behaviour using hybrid AI models.
Last up was Clean Tech Renewable Energy, one of the SMEs that participated in the STEPS business support programme (BSP). The Irish SME offers smart energy management solutions for renewable energy projects. Their presentation showed the results from their tests at the Wexford County Council that they did within the STEPS programme.
More success stories of the STEPS business support programme were shown in videos about Volta Energy, XINTC, Borg Energy Storage and ZEBRA. These short clips showed what SMEs have done within the programme, what their test results were and what the future plans they have.
The last afternoon was reserved for a site visit to O’Sheas Farm, one of the testbeds in the STEPS BSP. The O’Sheas family showed us around their farm, told us about their aim to reduce energy usage and how the battery, provided by the SME Daretech, can help them to achieve this goal and save both costs and energy. With this final excursion, the final STEPS event came to an end. The project officially ends in September. All products, reports and booklets can still be found on this website and the STEPS LinkedIn page.
