Find out more about the advanced Tool for specialised users targetting policymakers, engineers, consultants and energy professionals, as well as the financial viability of residential PV+Storage systems in the Balkan-Mediterranenan area in the following webinar.

The BalkanMed Interreg PV-ESTIA project is coming to an end. For this purpose the PV-ESTIA team has published its final brochure, concluding all main achievements in this interesing journey. The brochure includes information on

PV-ESTIA at a glance

nZEB situation in partners countries

PV-ESTIA data collection process

PV-ESTIA pilots in each of the 5 piloting regions 

Pilot results and data analyses - SSR & SCR 

PV-ESTIA tools - an 1) online tool modelinf both the thermal and the electrical energy demand and 2) a tool targetting policy makers 

definition of an innovative managment scheme for PV + Strorage 

Country specific and joint policy recommendations

Communication and dissemination activities during this journey 

Lessons learnt 

LINK:

An international workshop, entitled "Towards an efficient implementation of storage in buildings - Experiences and good practice", was organized in the framework of the PV-ESTIA project. It took place in the 5th of December 2019, in Thessaloniki, while it was organized by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Several energy experts from the market and the universities shared their experience regarding the implementation of storage systems in buildings. The main subjects of the workshop were:

- The European experience, research and perspectives for storage. Hybrid PV+Storage.

- The interreg Balkan MED area experience.

- Developing the tools for the future intelligent power grids.

The workshop concluded with a panel session and a fruitful discussion on the new landscape, on the new opportunities and on the next steps towards the efficient integration of storage in buildings. More than 60 people participated in the workshop, including key stakeholders from universities, research institutions, distribution system operators, electricity retail companies, as well as policy makers and engineers.

The Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings with Photovoltaics - PV ESTIA team met for the 5th time, this time in Kozani, Greece (3-4/12/2019). The meeting was transformed into a great platform for different discussions on the pilots already established in Plovdiv, Kozani, Skopje, Thessaloniki and Nicosia, the measurement infrastructure and the central and local data collection process. The pilot installation of AUTH was presente, where data have been collected for the last 2 months. Indicative measurements were presented along with calculations for the SCR and the SSR. In Kozani, the tender for the installation of the equipment in the public building was launched and the contractor to finalize the pilot is selected. It is expeted the pilots to be fully operational at the end of 2019. In Cyprus,t he residential pilots are running, and data have been collected. In Bulgaria, all 5 pilots are up and running and data are being collected. The installed system was described along with the data processing and storage. The excess PV energy production is curtailed through the inverter. In Skopje, North Macedonia, the pilot installation at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, which is iconnected as a microgrid, was presented along with the measurement system. 

The FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy presented findings from different simulation algorithms that were examined for the optimal charging level of a BESS for each season based on a) increasing self-consumption, b) time controlled charging and discharging and c) overnight charging.

During the event, hosted by University of Western Macedonia, Prof. Georgios Christoforidis presented the tools to be developed within the project, which will be evaluating the optimal combination of PV+Storage for a specific thermal and electrical demand.

The discussions ended up with specific activities to be further undertaken for the development of Country and Joint (BalkanMed area) policy recommendations, where the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) is responsible.

The Interreg Balkan-Med Programme Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings with Photovoltaics - PV ESTIA is organising an International conference on the Efficient Implementation of Storage in Buildings, experiences and good practise on 5th December in Thessaloniki. The agenda for the international workshop in  is finalised. The programme focuses on PVs, PV+storage, Battery Energy Storage Systems, nZEBS and Smart Buldings. During the conference we will share our experience from the PV-ESTIA project, as well as other relative experience. 

The full programme could be found here

Registration link

Our first PV-ESTIA infographic has been released.

PV-ESTIA project was presented during the annual event "Efficient and economic energy usage in industry and buildings" organised by the Union of Technical Science in Plovdiv. The event served as a platform to present PV-ESTIA related information, namely:

• - the 2050 long-term strategy - strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy by 2050 ;
• - clean energy for all Europeans legislative package ;
• - nZEB legislation and definition ;
• - the benefits of the energy storage systems ;
• - PV-ESTIA project, main outcomes and goals ;
• - practical examples of PVs coupled with ESSs ;
• - PV-ESTIA in Plovdiv and the pilots ;
• - some key technical findings from the Stores project.

The event was visited by a large group of stakeholders, including: representatives from Academia and Research, experts in the field of energy, energy efficiency and RES, representavies of public bodies, NGOs and private business. 

The PV-ESTIA project was presented in the context of ERASMUS+ DIEGO workshop on Renewable Sources of Energy, Smart Grids and Enabling Technologies in Montevideo, Uruguay.

More specifically, a general description of the project and the system implementation in Cyprus was presented to the participants, who were postgraduate students and academic staff of the hosting university.

The PV-ESTIA project was presented in the context of the Energy Day Workshop of the University of Cyprus. More specifically, a general description of the project and the system implementation in Cyprus was presented to the participants, who were stakeholders, the scientific community (students and academics), authorities, engineers/experts, policymakers, governmental authorities and the general public.

On 3^rd May 2019 the Monitoring Committee of the BalkanMed Programme held a meeting in Skopje, North Macedonia. Representatives of the PV-ESTIA project were called upon to present their experience with the managing and coordination of projects, part of the BalkanMed Programme. The PV-ESTIA project was one of two BalkanMed projects that were chosen to be presented at the meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the BalkanMed Programme. The aim of the presentation was to share the developments and achievements of the project, as well as to discuss the hurdles that have been faced in the process of the project’s. 

The presentation focused on the importance of cross border collaboration in the context of a wider European electricity market, as well as knowledge and experience sharing among countries which are at different stages of PV+storage system penetration. In that context, an overview of the pilot activities in each of the partnering countries was provided. It was concluded that the diversity of technologies in the pilots, as well as the diversity of their scales contribute to obtaining a better picture of how coupling PV and storage can reduce the negative impact of nearly zero energy buildings with PV on the distribution grid.

Finally, the presentation of the PV-ESTIA project ended with a demonstration of the project’s promotional video.

Vladimir Gjorgievski from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering & Information Technologiesof the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia took part during the 16th International Conference of Machines, Drives and Power Systems (ELMA) 2019 Conference (7th June) in Varna, Bulgaria. The ELMA conference provides opportunity to academics, scientists, engineers, PhD students, manufacturers and users to discuss and exchange information about the results of their theoretical and experimental investigation, the utilization of new materials and application of new technologies in the field of electrical machines, drives power electronics and power systems.

During the event Vladimir Gjorgievski made a presentation on "How buildings with PVs can be more grid friendly". The presentation was aiming to clarify that the PV-ESTIA project intended to make buildings with PVs more grid friendly. However, overriding the built-in controls of battery chargers and of inverters may introduce some technical bottlenecks and additional costs. For this reason, finding simpler ways of choosing a suitable battery control strategy for smaller behind-the-meter storage were discussed. A five step procedure was presented aimed at determining the operational parameters of the battery (charge/discharge power, Time-of-Use periods etc.) so that the battery’s profile most resembles  that of an optimized operation.

The presentation is part of the conference paper entitled "Simulation Based Approach for Determining the Battery Control Strategy of a PV and Storage Pilot System" which focuses on determining the battery parameter of inverter-enabled controls. The paper deals with the determination of the operational parameter of inverter enabled strategies so that buildings with PVs become more grid friendly.  

During the discussion, as well as throughout the conference, the PV-ESTIA project was presented and discussed with other participants. Networking opportunities were ceased whenever there was overlap in research interest.

The Technology Research Center of Western Macedonia (TRCWM) took part during a training course in Cyprus between 21 and 24 of January, 2019 on "Reducing energy cost through electrical and thermal energy storage”. The course aimed in providing useful and updated information about the electrical and thermal energy storage technologies. Moreover, all recent trends regarding the installation of energy storage systems in residential sector have been highlighted. The two TRCWM participants also had personal meetings with the participants. During these meetings the PV-ESTIA project was presented and explained in details to all participants, as a case study that supports the core concept of the training course itself.

The BalkanMed Programme Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings with Photovoltaics - PV ESTIA project paves the way towards more nZEBs, towards more Renewables and Sustainability in the Balkan-Med area.

If you want to learn how we are doing it, watch our first video.

A paper entitled “A PSO based optimal EVs Charging utilizing BESSs and PVs in buildings” has been submitted to the 13th International Conference on Compatibility, Power Electronics and Power (CPE-POWERENG 2019), where a a novel Electric Vehicles charging model utilising battery energy storage systems and PVs in buildings is proposed by the Technological Research Center of Western Macedonia. 

Driven by the desire to reduce environmental impacts and achieve energy independence, electric vehicles (EVs) are poised to receive mass acceptance from the general public. However, simultaneously connecting to electric distribution grid and charging with large number of EVs bring the necessity of optimizing the charging and discharging behaviors of EVs, due to the security and economy issue of the grid operation. To address this issue, we propose a novel EV charging model in this paper. The model concerns with following aspects, including optimal power flow (OPF), statistic characteristics of EVs, EV owners’ degree of satisfaction (DoS), and the power grid cost. An improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed for the model optimization. To evaluate our proposed optimal EV charging strategy, a 10-bus power distribution system simulation is performed for performance investigation. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy can reduce the operational cost of the power grid considerately, while meeting the EV owner’s driving requirement. Also, better performance on the global search capability and optimal result of the improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is verified.

The UCY project team participated with a poster in the 6th International Conference on Renewable Energy Sources & Energy Efficiency. The poster presented the PV-ESTIA project in general and introduced the selected equipment for the case of Cyprus. It also demonstrated the designed solution based on which the equipment was selected. More than 100 people attended the 2-day Conference held at the facilities of the University of Cyprus, mainly coming from the scientific community.

On 5^th October 2018 representatives of UKIM-FEIT took part in the International Conference Energetics 2018 titled “The PV-ESTIA Project: Possibilities and Perspectives for Increasing the Integration of Energy Storage Systems”. The paper “The PV-ESTIA Project: Possibilities and Perspectives for Increasing the Integration of Energy Storage Systems” was presented at the conference. As there are only a limited number of practical PV+storage cases, mostly used in isolated system, it was concluded that the PV+storage system installed at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies provided numerous benefits. For instance, it gives researchers access to the storage system consisted of LTO batteries. With large focus being given to lithium technologies such as LiPO4, the energy storage system in FYROM could be used to widen the practical knowledge related to LTO batteries.

Beside informing representatives from academia and industry, the objective of this conference was to also inform policy makers about the need for updating the legislation for PV integration in buildings and developing a national definition for nZEBs in general.

On 21^th September 2018 representatives of UKIM-FEIT took part in the ETAI 2018 Conference and presented the paper titled “On the Effectiveness of Three Battery Control Strategy Formulations for Residential Photovoltaic systems” (http://etai.org.mk/ ). Representatives from academia and industry got informed about the PV-ESTIA project and on frequently used battery control strategies and the implications they have on the household’s net consumption. The conference session was attended by participants from different fields, which lead to an interesting debate on the current legislation regarding PVs installation in households. It was concluded that further country specific research would be useful to see whether or not battery storage is cost-effective. As the audience was comprised of engineers and experts in different fields it initiated a debate on the current battery market to be acquainted with the issues being discussed.

A presentation entitled: "Energy storage systems - a promising solution for achieving nZEB building” including other PV-ESTIA project information, its goals and methodology was presented by Mr. Petar Kisyov during the 13th National ABEA conference “Intelligent Cities and Regions –  integrated energy management, bio-economy, nearly zero energy buildings”. The presentation included information about the new energy horizons and the EU long-time energy strategy, relevant information about PV ESTIA pilots and some data already obtained from the storage solutions implemented. 

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering intends to install a pilot installation within the research committee building of the university. Currently the pilot installationg is under the tender stage for the commissioning and installation of the equipment. It is planned to be concluded by February 2019. The pilot will consist of:

• 15 kWp  PV  panels + 15 kW  inverters + 18 kWh batteries;
• Metering and control equipment for monitoring both electrical and thermal energy;
• Communication, data acquisition and display features.

During the pilot operation the overall building eneformance, both thermal and electrical, will be monitored under different operational scenarios. More specifically the following building features will be monitored: thermal loads (heating & cooling), ventilation, outdoor and indoor temperatures, PV generation, electrical loads, energy storage.

The Energy Agency of Plovdiv presented PV ESTIA during the annual meeting of the Association of Bulgarian Energy Agencies (ABEA) in July, 2017. The main objective of the workshop was to:

• To provide comprehensive information about the PV ESTIA project and its main outputs
• To involve key regional energy experts in the energy storage behind the meter topic
• To discuss barriers in front of PVs and energy storage behind the meter 
• To discuss current energy and RES trends in Bulgaria.

The 3rd BalkanMed Programme Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings with Photovoltaics - PV ESTIA project meeting took place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on 10th and 11th, October, 2018. It aimed to discuss the project` progress in each country, as well as all pilot activities. Discussions on current policy barriers, data collection tools and a possible design of an innovative management scheme suitable for buildings equipped with PVs and energy storage systems took place. The project partners also discussed possibiliteis for designing of roadmaps enhancing PV+storage integration in buildings, so as to reach an increased renewable self consumption and thus to increase the number of nZEBs.

TRCWM participated in EU HEROES H2020 project’s Thematic Workshop hosted by the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES), in Athens on 20/09/2018. Assoc. Prof. Georgios C. Christoforidis made a presentation entitled “Overview of the PV-ESTIA project”. A roundtable discussing business models for storage in energy communities took place. Also, a questionnaire related to business models was distributed to the audience and TRCWM responded promptly.

TRCWM took part in the Workshop organized by the Technical Chamber of Greece in Thessaloniki on 05/06/2018 entitled “Electricity storage, Electrifcaton and Renewable Energy Sources carve the future of growth-driven by environment improvement”. Assoc. Professor Georgios C. Christoforidis presented the PV-ESTIA project in an audience that involved stakeholders from local and regional governments, engineers, academics, private companies and others.

Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies (FEIT) completed the first university rooftop PV system for self consumption in FYROM. The PV system has a total capacity ot 22 kWp, whether 12 kWP are coupled with an energy storage system and were implemented with the financial support of the INTERREG project Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings with Photovoltaics – PV-ESTIA. The total investment worths 27.500 EUR and is expecteto cut electricity bills by 3000-3500 EUR/y.

The Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje organised a workshop on the policy barriers and opportunities related to nZEBs and PV+storage was held on April 11 2018 in Skopke involving all relevant national stakeholders. In light of the new national Energy Law a fruitful debate took place concerning the integration of rooftop PVs and the opportunities for Energy Storage Systems. 

The EU has set itself a long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95%, when compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. A presentation about Nearly Zero Energy buildings, current national nZEB legislation and requirements, PV ESTIA project and how to transform buildings into controllable energy and on the next generation of EU building directions as part of the 2050 Energy Strategy  was implemented in Plovdiv in May, 2018.

A presentation of a scientific paper related to PV-Estia project was implemented by the Technolocigal Research Center of Western Macedonia in June, 2018 during the 5th IEEE International Energy Conference in Limassol, Cyprus. The paper will be available in large international databases (IEEE Xplore, Scopus, etc) in the following months, ensuring that interested scientists and stakeholders will become aware of the work done in the PV-ESTIA project. It examines voltage quality problems in Low Voltage (LV) Distribution Networks (DNs) due to high Photovoltaic (PV) and Electric Vehicles (EVs) penetration. The proposed methodology considers Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) along with the PV units in order to store the energy surplus that causes overvoltage during the high PV generation. This stored energy is utilized at night when the majority of the EVs is expected to be charged. Moreover, a Unified Particle Swarm Optimization (UPSO) algorithm is used in order to optimally schedule EVs charging during the night and under different charging modes. This scheduling is implemented under either an assumed continuous charging mode or an intermittent one. The objective function is set to be the optimal voltage profile. A real LV DN with real measured load data is examined. Variations have been taken into account about some EVs’ parameters and the results indicate that the voltage profile is significantly improved under the proposed charging schedule by the UPSO. If this charging schedule is combined with efficient exploitation of the BESS stored energy then the improvement is even higher. The proposed approach also improves energy efficiency towards the implementation of the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) concept.

On 22.06.2018, PV ESTIA Project attended a Communication Seminar for the beneficiaries of the Projects funded under the 1st Call for Project Proposals organised by the Joint Secretariat of the BalkanMed transnational Cooperation Programme. The event enabled the projects’ communication managers to improve their communication skills and to learn more about implementing the dissemination strategy of the EU co-funded projects. It also provided valuable insights into BalkanMed Communication & Dissemination Rules.

The BalkanMEd PV ESTIA project was presented during the stakeholders` meeting with the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy on April 24, 2018 in Athens. The discussions covered the topics on PVs coupled with energy storage systems as a key step in order buildings to become more grid-friendly and also to meet the decarbonisation and climate mitigation goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

The second Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings with Photovoltaics - PV ESTIA consortium meeting took place in Limassol, Cyprus between 21-22nd, February, hosted by the Research Centre for Sustainable Energy (FOSS), as part of the University of Cyprus. All project partners participated in a collaborative project meeting, where different technical and non-technical discussions about project progress and further implementation were deeply discussed. Discussions about PV + storage pilots, PV metering, data acquisition and solutions on how to transform buildings into a controllable energy source took place. The project Steering Committee took the decision that EVN FYROM will join the project consortium as an observer partner. It was also decided that the next project meeting will take place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The first international conference of the BalkanMed Programme project Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings with Photovoltaics - PV ESTIA took place at the University of Cyprus. It served as a discussion platform about tackling barriers in integration of energy storage systems in buildings with PVs and their interaction with the grid. Assoc. Prof. Georgios Christoforidis provided information about the PV ESTIA project and how do we aim to change the way buildings with photovoltaics interact with the grid, thus paving the way towards nZEBs. Prof. Grigoris Papagiannis from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) opened up the discussion how to tackle and avoid technical barriers of storage, do we need incentives for energy storage and should we focus on decentralized or centralized energy storage?