Welcome to The Grid
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the WeForming newsletter! I’m excited to share our journey with you as we set out to transform the energy landscape and redefine how buildings may interact with the energy ecosystem.
At WeForming, our mission is to revolutionize energy management by turning buildings from passive into active and flexible components of the energy grids and beyond. We aim to achieve this through the development of Intelligent Grid-Forming Buildings (iGFBs), which are equipped with cutting-edge software and hardware technologies designed to optimize energy use by operating efficiently and interactively across multiple dimensions.
Our project is anchored in four key pillars, supported by six demonstrators (🇱🇺Luxembourg, 🇵🇹Portugal, 🇭🇷Croatia, 🇧🇪Belgium, 🇪🇸Spain, and 🇩🇪Germany) and a vibrant knowledge sharing hub for co-creation:
Operational excellence: we are focusing on optimizing the functionality of iGFBs to ensure they operate at peak efficiency, providing better energy management and reducing waste.
Interoperability: we are making sure that iGFBs can seamlessly communicate and exchange data with other energy stakeholders, creating a unified and efficient energy network.
New business models: we are developing innovative business models that are both sustainable and competitive, paving the way for smart cities and smarter energy use.
Smart city enabling: we are prioritizing regulatory analysis and societal/environmental impacts to promote solutions and policy recommendations that are both innovative and interoperable.
The impact of WeForming extends to everyone involved in the energy transition. For building users, this means enhanced comfort, lower energy bills, and a significant reduction in carbon footprint. For stakeholders, including energy providers and policymakers, WeForming offers a blueprint for economic value, sustainable urban development, and a more resilient energy grid.
I would like to invite you to explore the updates and insights shared in this newsletter and to join us in our quest to make the energy transition a reality in Europe. Your interest and participation in the WeForming project are invaluable. Welcome to our community of trailblazers!
Warm regards,
Dr. Konstantinos Kotsalos, WeForming's project coordinator
As part of the Green Deal, the European Union has pledged to become climate neutral by 2050. Buildings, a major source of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, are key to this effort.
Enter WeForming: a 36-month innovation action that brings together 30 partners from 10 different countries across Europe. By focusing on iGFBs, WeForming offers a holistic approach to place buildings at the forefront of the EU’s decarbonization path.
🎥 Watch this video for a brief intro to the WeForming project’s mission and goals. For more information about the consortium, go to our website.
⚡ Kick-off meeting in 🇬🇷Athens
Hosted by our project coordinator EUROPEAN DYNAMICS, WeForming’s kick-off meeting was held in October 2023 in the historic city of Athens. Check out our blog post for an overview of the project and a debrief of the meeting.
⚡ Technical meeting in 🇩🇪Karlsruhe
Earlier this year, WeForming’s technical partners and demo owners gathered for a two-day meeting in Karlsruhe, the hometown of our demos work package leader, KIT - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The team engaged in in-depth discussions and hands-on workshops, focusing on the project's vision and the status, challenges, and envisioned outcomes of each demo site.
⚡ BRIDGE General Assembly in 🇧🇪Brussels
In April, WeForming was honored to attend the BRIDGE General Assembly in Brussels, represented by our project coordinator Konstantinos Kotsalos. BRIDGE, an initiative of the European Commission, unites Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects in Smart Grids, Energy Storage, Islands, and Digitalization, promoting continuous knowledge sharing through four different working groups: Data Management, Business Models, Regulation, and Consumer and Citizen Engagement.
⚡ Plenary meeting in 🇭🇷Zagreb
Eight months into the project, the WeForming consortium gathered in the vibrant city of Zagreb in May for its first plenary meeting. We discussed progress, redefined goals, and aligned on next steps. Get a sneak peek of the meeting in our recap video and read about the key highlights in our blog post.
📍🇧🇪 CINEA Buildings Clustering Meeting | 21-22 May
WeForming took part in the CINEA Cross-Programme Buildings Clustering Meeting, which united over 50 projects focused on energy-efficient buildings. Stratis Kanarachos from EUROPEAN DYNAMICS shared our initial findings and recommendations, contributing to discussions on smart buildings and services.
📍🇵🇹 Lisbon Energy Summit | 27-29 May
In collaboration with our partner F6S Innovation's energy efficiency projects, WeForming participated in the Lisbon Energy Summit. This event provides a high-level platform for inter-sectoral communication to generate consensus and unity within the energy community, driving change through multilateral partnerships.
📍🇫🇷 XXIII Power Systems Computation Conference | 4-7 June
Hrvoje Pandžić from FER - Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb presented a paper titled “Learning a Reward Function for User-Preferred Appliance Scheduling” at the XXIII Power Systems Computation Conference. This research was developed within the WeForming project and will be published later this year in the EPSR journal.
📍🇩🇪 Energie- und Klimafestival | 15 June
KIT - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and FZI - Forschungszentrum Informatik presented WeForming and the project demo they are leading in Germany at the Energie- und Klimafestival, an event dedicated to climate-friendly energy and mobility.
📍🇦🇹 CIRED Vienna Workshop | 19-20 June
Tomislav Antić from FER - Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb presented two papers at the CIRED Vienna Workshop, acknowledging the WeForming project. Both papers explored distributed energy resources hosting capacity and the importance of demand-side flexibility in increasing the share of low-carbon technologies.
📍🇱🇺 PEDG 2024 | 23-26 June
Our project scientific coordinator LIST - Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology organized the IEEE 15th International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG 2024), where Ioannis Mandourarakis from EUROPEAN DYNAMICS represented WeForming in a panel session about “European flagship projects on modern energy systems”.
🔰 Media coverage
WeForming took the spotlight in Wochenblatt Reporter, a German media outlet. Take a look at the piece below to learn more about the Smart East in Karlsruhe, one of the real-life demos where WeForming’s methodology will be validated.
🔤 Turn on the automatic translation feature in your browser to be able to read the article (originally in German).
🔰 Project insights
In this opinion article, Konstantinos Kotsalos and Stratis Kanarachos from EUROPEAN DYNAMICS explore the integration of smart interoperable buildings to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability. Read more ⤵️
🔰 Partners interviews
In this interview, Mojtaba Kamarlouei, CTO and co-founder of Builtrix, sheds light on Builtrix’s role in WeForming, outlines the project’s main goals, and delves into the Portuguese demo. Watch now ⤵️
🎯 Survey on iGFBs
What do you know about iGFBs - Intelligent Grid-Forming Buildings, their benefits, developments, and potential cost savings?
Take our survey and help shape the future of smart cities through co-creation and policy recommendations, all centered around the end-user.
🌐 Available in 🇬🇧English, 🇫🇷French, 🇵🇹Portuguese, 🇭🇷Croatian, 🇪🇸Spanish, and 🇩🇪German
🎯 WeForming Energy Hub
Are you interested in being part of the energy revolution?
Join the WeForming Energy Hub, a space for co-creation, knowledge sharing, and capacity-building across the energy sector that aims to serve as a dynamic forum to disseminate industry news and insights, promote relevant events, create networking opportunities, and facilitate discussions.
🔋 EVELIXIA
EVELIXIA aims to realize Buildings as Active Utility Nodes (BAUNs). It is centered on the concept of creating an integrated, resilient, and efficient energy ecosystem, leveraging advancements in renewable energy technologies, smart grid solutions, and energy storage systems to optimize energy production, distribution, and consumption.
🚀 This is our sister project, funded under the same Horizon Europe topic “Smart-grid ready and smart-network ready buildings, acting as active utility nodes (Built4People)” (HORIZON-CL5-2022-D4-02-04) and we are excited to join forces with them in the coming months.
META BUILD embodies the vision of transforming building towards a decarbonized and sustainable energy system, striving to accelerate the electrification of thermal energy demand by advancing cutting-edge technologies and provide efficient electric solutions.
🤝 Last month, we teamed up with META BUILD for The Energy Fair (11-13 June), part of the European Sustainable Energy Week initiatives. This event convenes diverse stakeholders in sustainable energy to exchange ideas on policies and best practices. WeForming was featured at the European Heat Pump Association stand, alongside META BUILD.
i-STENTORE examines the integration of diverse storage solutions and their combinations in various applications covering mobility, agricultural, industry, household, heating, and other sectors.
💡 In collaboration with energy storage projects AGISTIN, SINNOGENES and 2LIPP, i-STENTORE recently launched the Energy Talks, a webcafe series dedicated to fostering innovation, sharing best practices, and exploring emerging trends in the energy field. The inaugural edition took place in May under the theme “Unlocking the potential of innovative energy storage solutions”. Watch this insightful discussion below and follow i-STENTORE here on LinkedIn for updates on the next Energy Talks.
🔋 DigiWind
DigiWind is dedicated to developing interdisciplinary programmes targeting the acquisition of advanced digital skills in wind and energy systems engineering.
🎓 If you are a hiring manager, a project manager, a developer, a contractor, part of a company or university, DigiWind needs your input. Share your insights about high-demand skills, preferred training formats, and more & help shape future education offerings!
Discover more about our other innovative synergy projects and how they are reshaping the energy industry for a sustainable future!
🗓️ 23-25 September: Sustainable Places 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
Sustainable Places is a conference renowned for showcasing results coming out of the EU Horizon Europe Framework Programme. This conference covers topics related to designing, constructing, and retrofitting buildings in a more sustainable way. The 12th annual edition of Sustainable Places is a hybrid event. In-person sessions will take place in Luxembourg.
🗓️ 22-24 October: Enlit 🇮🇹 Milan
Enlit is a high-level energy forum connecting industries, inspiring actions, and helping Europe evolve into one decarbonized and digitalized energy system for the energy transition. It addresses every aspect of the energy agenda, from decarbonization of industry and transportation, to power generation and energy storage.
🗓️ 23-24 October: WEBIT 🇧🇬 Sofia
WEBIT is the world’s premier technology impact event on designing a sustainable future. There is an Energy Track dedicated to exploring the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in the energy sector. Key topics include renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro, as well as advancements in energy storage, grid modernization, and smart energy systems. Discussions will also cover energy policy and regulation, market trends, and investment opportunities.
💻 Check out our website and learn more about WeForming ⤵️ weforming.eu
