The BRIDGE initiative process fosters continuous knowledge sharing amongst projects thus allowing them to deliver conclusions and recommendations about the future exploitation of the project results, with a single voice, through 4 different Working Groups representing the main areas of interest.
BRIDGE business model (BM) working group
Representatives of the SENDER project learned at BRIDGE BM working group meetings that an integrated approach to energy management and a focus on time-of-use (ToU) tariffs offer a promising alternative to current tariff parameters.
Consequently, our team focused on conducting a field study of innovative ToU business models and their bundling. In this context, the BRIDGE BM working group’s 2022/23 report was a useful tool that supported the creation of an operational research approach.
In addition, opportunities for physical meetings with other BRIDGE project representatives provided a valuable forum for defining and discussing research approaches in the field of biomass development.
BRIDGE Consumer & Citizen Engagement Working Group
Although it wasn’t possible to attend the final working sessions of this group, some of the lessons learned are that “engagement” is a vast subject, which needs to be broken down into smaller chunks for better analysis.
Many different aspects need to be taken into account when designing and implementing engagement strategies.
BRIDGE data management working group
The use case repository (action no. 1) was used to share the practices implemented in SENDER projects for the development of use cases.
It also confirmed that the approach chosen by SENDER is aligned with the standardized approach. In addition, the GBPs defined in the reference framework (action no. 3) are very similar to the use cases developed in the SENDER project, which is a good sign in favor of reproducibility.
Finally, work on the interoperability of household appliances (action #5) has enabled the SENDER solution to be compared with solutions from other projects.
BRIDGE Regulatory Working Group
Barriers to flexible services, products and supply mechanisms can be manifold, ranging from the absence of flexible network tariffs to the harmonization of basic alignment, to the absence of infrastructure, such as smart meters, due to delays in their implementation.
In Action 4, potential barriers to sector coupling and sector integration at household level were examined. The knowledge-sharing sessions provided valuable information on other BRDIGE projects, the challenges encountered and possible solutions. This information also helped to identify possible solutions to the obstacles encountered in the SENDER project.
BRIDGE Energy Communities Working Group
Engagement strategies were generally organized in different phases and using different tools, depending on the chronology of the engagement, for greater effectiveness.
The use of key words and a focus on specific aspects of households’ daily lives were fundamental to defining these different strategies, personalizing them and keeping them up to date (especially during the blockage due to the COVID pandemics).
The motivation and eligibility of end-users were central points to be taken into account in each project to develop attractive recruitment materials and messages.
In all cases, these different strategies helped to raise participants’ awareness, particularly of the financial and environmental benefits of belonging to an energy community or implementing renewable energy technologies.
