Abstract
Historically, electrical system networks have been designed to allow a small number of centralized electricity generating facilities to distribute electricity to many consumers. With the deployment of the means of production in renewable energies, necessary to reach the objectives of Paris Agreements, the means of energy production multiply and decentralize. This decentralization leads to an additional cost of electricity due to the need to strengthen the distribution and transport networks, as well as the exchange capacities at the borders. In addition, these means of producing renewable energy (whether wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, hydraulic central) have intermittences both daily and seasonal. Within the framework of the “Smart Energy Systems” ERA-Net (European Research Area Network), the recently funded “H2 CoopStorage” project responds to the challenges posed by the deployment of renewable energy production means, by improving local balancing, by reducing renewable intermittences and by intensifying the production of renewable energy. More specifically, the project aims to develop methodological tools and software allowing the deployment and management of a multi-energy (electric, heat, hydrogen) energy community integrating hybrid storage (electrochemical and fuel cell) to be able to respond to the storage of daily and seasonal energy needs. The tools will be developed on the real Mortsel pilot site (Belgium), responding in a global manner to the challenges posed by technological, societal and legal barriers. The project is also innovative in its approach because the actors of the energy community will participate in the development of tools through a co-construction process. This is fundamental to ensuring that the tools developed meet the needs of all stakeholders. This contribution aims at providing both a detailed description of the project activities ahead and the preliminary results already obtained.
