OPTIENERGY
Digital platform to provide control and flexibility in the management of renewable energy production and consumption
OPTIENERGY is this project carried out by the consortium formed by Plug&Chain, 5Skill, ARCbcn and coordinated from secpho.
The objective is to provide managers of industrial energy communities, especially SMEs, with greater control and flexibility in the management of renewable energy production and consumption. This solution is based on the increase of the radius of collective self-consumption from 500 m to 2 km, according to the Royal Decree-Law 20/2022.
The initiative has received funding from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism corresponding to Next Generation EU funds, canalised through the support programme for Innovative Business Groups, whose objective is to digitalise industry.
Industrial energy communities are made up of industrial companies, mostly SMEs, which promote the creation of self-sufficient and autonomous installations with respect to the electricity grid.With 1.8 billion people affected by presbyopia worldwide, the project has the potential to transform the progressive lens value chain
The demand for renewable energy in industry is steadily increasing as companies look for ways to adopt more sustainable practices. However, there is a significant challenge due to the decoupling between renewable energy generation and demand, leading to times of overproduction or insufficient to meet demand.
Faced with this problem, industrial energy communities are presented as solutions to reduce costs, increase competitiveness, generate local investment opportunities and reduce the carbon footprint.
Industrial energy communities are presented as the best solution for companies to increase their productivity and sustainability in a context in which both determine the future of companies. The management of these communities requires solutions that facilitate coordination and planning to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness.
The platform specifically aims to reduce energy costs by up to 30%
In this context, OPTIENERGY was created to develop this platform with the specific objective of reducing energy costs by up to 30% through shared self-consumption and energy vector optimization algorithms. It also seeks to digitalize the process of energy consumption by companies, reduce carbon emissions, promote the adoption of renewable energies, boost the economic sector associated with the energy sector, and strengthen energy security in the region.
This initiative is a continuation of the good results obtained by the previous project, PLUG’N CHAIN, financed by the CDTI. This previous project investigated a first prototype system to simulate scenarios of collective self-consumption of renewable energy. In OPTIENERGY, we intend to go further, implementing new functionalities that allow to transmit the total control of the energy community to the member companies and the community manager.
Taking into account the objective of the project and the impact to be obtained, a consortium of Spanish companies has been formed, composed of a startup like Plug&Chain, two SMEs like 5Skill and ARCbcn and coordinated from the Deep Tech cluster secpho, all of them with different profiles and knowledge that complement each other to achieve the proposed objective.
Ultimately, OPTIENERGY responds to the market need to efficiently manage the production and consumption of renewable energy in industrial energy communities. By addressing issues such as the decoupling of generation and demand, the initiative helps drive the adoption of renewable energy, reduce costs, and strengthen energy security. It also promotes citizen participation and the decentralization of energy production, in line with the European Union’s objectives for a transition to a more sustainable and cleaner energy system.
