In May 2019, the EU launched the EU Clean Energy PackageClean energy for all Europeans package
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/energy-strategy/clean-energy-all-europeans_en which in itself is an integration of eight legislative acts that contribute to shaping the Energy Union and fulfilling the EU’s Paris Agreement commitments. This will also provide and incentivise further significant investments in sustainable energy infrastructure for smart energy distribution, storage and transmission systems. European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support is also available to improve energy efficiency and security of supply through the development of smart energy systemsEnergy Plan – Smart Energy Systems
http://www.energyplan.eu/smartenergysystems/. The Clean Energy Transition Partnership and SET-Plan under Horizon Europe Research & Innovation programme 2021-2027 and the Energy Roadmap 2050Energy Roadmap 2050, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions, COM(2011) 855 final, 15.12.2011
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0885:FIN:EN:PDF also highlight the expectation that fossil fuels will continue to have a role in European primary energy in the foreseeable future. It is thus of utmost importance to boost energy efficiency in concert with sustainable use of effective energy sources and carriersEnergy Efficiency and its contribution to energy security and the 2030 Framework for climate and energy policy, Communication form the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, COM(2014) 520 final, 23.07.2014
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/2014_eec_communication_adopted_0.pdf. However, there is a need to research the design, operation and integration of all parts of the energy systems of the future in a safe and secure manner as Europe transitions from a traditionally centralised system of generation to a much more distributed energy generation portfolio. This main focus of this section is on the technical aspects of the future energy systems and their integration. It is also important to point out that the socio-economic and human behavioural aspects are of equal importance as the Energy Citizens rights and entitlements are at the heart of the new EU Clean Energy Package.

Current status

ENERGY NETWORKS The future European energy system, with an envisaged much higher penetration of renewables given the Member States increased ambitions and requirements under their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP’s), needs an extremely strong interplay between different energy carriers such as electricity, heating and cooling – e.g. gas and other chemical fuels. Such a system demands control of intermittent production from renewable energy and variable consumption of all carriers as well as energy storage which is an important technology to stabilize the power fluctuations and to define economically and environmentally sustainable options. Smart Grid refers to a progressive evolution of the electricity network towards “a network that can intelligently integrate the actions of all users connected to it – generators, energy storage facilities. and consumers in order to efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supply and safety”. It is a combination of the grid control technology, information technology and intelligence management of generation, transmission, distribution and storage. Energy Management Systems (EMSs) are vital tools to optimally manage the interplay across the variety of systems components, system grids and networks. In fact, the need for new EMSs to minimize emissions, costs, improve security at different spatial and temporal scales is the basis of the RIs in this field that implement the interaction among equipment, communication protocols, simulation and control. Over 450 demonstration projects with different RIs have been launched in Europe exploring system operation, consumer behaviour and new innovative technologies. As these systems evolve it will become an ever-increasing requirement to also research the supply chain demands of materials required for the network infrastructures.

ENERGY STORAGE Energy Storage on different scales has a crucial role to support energy system stability and security. The energy storage market is starting to develop: costs have been one of the major constraints, as well as regulatory issues, EMSs, and technology capabilities. Advanced EMSs that can coordinate distributed storage over the energy the grids are a challenge for the development of large scale transmission and distribution grids and for the satisfaction of different kinds of demands (electrical, loads, thermal loads, etc.). RIs to support the design and evaluate grid reference architectures are required. Demonstration and test of energy storage at medium and large scale, including the possibility to test completely novel components and new materials, will give practical information on the use and benefits of the new and emerging energy storage technologies and potential contribution to key policy goals set for Europe.

The The main players in the electricity/smart grid arena are the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO) and the European Distribution System Operators (EDSO): they aim at implementing a flexible electrical network including a number of demonstrations, similarly to the European Technology Platform for Smart Grid. Major European universities. have built up infrastructures beyond the laboratory scale to operate in real case studies.

The main strategic research agenda challenge is to be able to build and control, through flexible and fast EMSs, an energy infrastructure which can be adapted to a large variety of production and storage systems − weather based energy production, controllable plants, solid state and gas based storage systems − from the development of single component to a complete complex energy system – e.g. a city level energy system involving heat, electricity and transport. Most smart energy network projects have focused on enabling the electricity system to match electrical demand with the variable electricity production of renewable sources however, these should also look at a mix of energy carriers. Therefore, future energy systems need to develop the potential to deal with the challenges of even more complex combinations of demand, supply and distribution. Such test systems should combine meteorological forecasts, energy production facilities (central and distributed), storage devices and systems, end-user components, penetration of renewable, different energy carriers like electricity, heating/cooling and gas including new market models. Building integrated smart energy network/storage testing and demonstration infrastructure will give manufacturing companies the possibility to test new equipment and EMSs, power producers and network operators’ new knowledge about how to operate a future energy network that will strengthen the competitiveness of industry. The ongoing R&D activities on new storage materials and system capacity and energy trading tools could enable the Smart Grid/Energy system and compare well to expensive grid extensions or curtailment approaches. The results of such RI will facilitate decisions on investments connected to the transformation of the energy system for companies as well as for public operators.

EFFICIENT CLEAN TRANSPORT Transport accounts for approximately one quarter of the EU Greenhouse Gas emissions and the target is to reduce this to 60% by 2050. The electrification of private transport is starting to gain market traction; however, the roll-out has been hampered by costs, and by political and techno-economic uncertainties around the launch of charging infrastructures. Cleaner and more energy efficient vehicles are a significant growing part of the European Energy System and have an important role to play in achieving EU policy objectives of reducing energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and pollutant emissions. The Directive on the Promotion of Clean and Energy Efficient Road Transport VehiclesDirective on the Promotion of Clean and Energy Efficient Road Transport Vehicles
https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/vehicles/directive_en aims at a broad market introduction of environmentally-friendly vehicles. A decarbonised energy system can assist towards meeting the future energy demands of the transport sector, with the availability and reducing cost of low emission vehicles. The environmental and technical requirements in the development of battery technology has led to the research of new forms of electrical storage and while there are clear signs of progress there are still issues to overcome. Smart mobility, multi-modal transport, low emission transport and urban mobility are particular priorities given the emergence of extremely aggressive reductions in national transport emission targets under the NECPS. The EU Clean Energy Package also supports investments in infrastructure for smart energy distribution, storage and transmission systems (particularly in less developed regions) and will assist the development of new transport solutions. It is also possible to receive EU support for low-emission transport research investments under the SET Plan aiming at promoting more sustainable multimodal urban mobility services.

In order to make sure that these investments achieve maximum impact, particular emphasis is placed during the 2021-2025 period on the need to ensure a sound strategic environment.

Smart cities and communities and living laboratories Smart Cities and Communities emphasis has slowly advanced from energy efficiency in buildings to districts and cities. When coupled to appropriately design physical systems, including for example transport systems and thermal energy storage systems, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can contribute to effective energy use and interactive balancing of real-time energy supply and demand in cities and communities. Well-designed urban interactive ecosystems can become smart sustainable cities and communities that use ICT-enabled systems and tools to tackle complex environmental and sustainability challenges. The EU is continuing to support rolling out smart city lighthouse projects to demonstrate drastic improvements and interactions in urban energy (including largescale building renovation), transport, ICT. This is to be firmly embedded in long-term city planning and user participation, and to facilitate transfer of best practices to other cities and communities. The European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC)7European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC)
http://ec.europa.eu/eip/smartcities/index_en.htm aims to promote integrated solutions leading to sustainability and a higher quality of life. The EERA Joint Programme on Smart Cities contributes to this purpose with new scientific methods, concepts and tools. Projects and umbrella networks are established to improve learning between and from these pilot projects. A mapping and analysis of Smart Cities in the EU was published by the EU Directorate-General for Internal Policies in 2014Mapping Smart Cities in the EU
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/507480/IPOL-ITRE_ET(2014)507480_EN.pdf also defining and benchmarking smart cities. Smart Cities can leverage the work of existing EU policy and programmes (e.g. CONCERTO, CIVITAS, Covenant of Mayors, future internet and Smarter Travel, amongothers) and major European initiatives such as EU Smart Cities Information SystemEU Smart Cities Information System
https://smartcities-infosystem.eu/, EurocitiesEurocities
http://www.eurocities.eu/ or European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)
http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/. Shared access to data, with a specific challenge-focused approach, is an attractive proposition for researchers and assist urban decision makers.

GAPS, CHALLENGES AND FUTURE NEEDS

ENERGY SYSTEM INTEGRATION. Some research gaps have been identified: improving decision support tools and their data requirements; definition of key performance indicators; smart strategies for “resource on demand” implementation including energy storage; real time knowledge of city parameters; common data repositories; optimization and control structures to integrate energy systems in smart cities; improved design, installation and control of urban energy systems. European RD&I can take a global lead on integration of smart (energy and communication) technologies in existing urban environments, adaptable to specific needs of users and communities. A wide variety of European cities have committed themselves to become urban laboratories to test, iterate and optimise these solutions and processes.

ENERGY NETWORKS AND STORAGE. The main gap is in the design reference architectures and modelling tools for wide scale flexible energy grid control systems that involve different kinds of energy and relate to the local scale (distributed -generation and low voltage grids). These grids will have to be able to deal with the combination of all use cases, including incentives to grid operators and electricity retailers in a liberalized market model whereby competing economical players work in parallel and operate commercial ICT systems to control a common grid infrastructure. Another gap is in the research into transactional arrangements and the testing of enabling economic systems such as blockchain for secure energy trading across multiple platforms that are resistant to cyber security threats. Alongside the electricity network gaps mentioned above there are also gaps in the provision of cost effective large scale energy storage via heat, chemical and physical storage solutions.

EFFICENT LOW EMISSION TRANSPORT. The focus on the need for low emission vehicles and the standardisation of testing of large scale impact is still a gap that needs to be filled. While the commercial vehicle developers are developing the vehicles, there is a lack of understanding on the impact and integration of large-scale electrification of transport on the grid as both an energy demand management enabler (e.g. vehicle to grid, storage system integration and other forms of balancing loads and managing demand across heat, electricity and transport systems) and other distributed storage systems as elements of not just the smart micro grid bus also of the broader energy systems. As the pace of development of electric and autonomous vehicles is picking, it will be important to have RIs to enable researchers to study the legal frameworks as well as the physical infrastructure within which these will operate.

SMART CITIES AND COMMUNITIES. There are still no dedicated Smart Energy City or Community test-bed related RIs in the ESFRI Roadmap. A solution linked to smart cities/communities initiatives could prove to be particularly pertinent and provide a strong business case for aiding future city and community designs. The same applies for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen (FCH), as the maturity of the technologies requires RIs to comply with the applied research requirements in line with industry’s needs, including system testing and validation. We stress the important role of ICT, as this will be crucial in several important ways. Data protocols for sharing high volumes of information, attention to data privacy matters and a vision on how ICT will enable the future designs in urban form are all needed.