Shaping the Future of Energy Efficiency
Meet the Power Behind SENDER: 15 Diverse Partners Driving Innovation
The SENDER project is powered by a robust consortium of 15 partners, each bringing unique expertise and vision to the table. Our dynamic collaboration is at the heart of SENDER’s mission to revolutionise household energy consumption.
SMART INNOVATION NORWAY AS – NORWAY
Project coordinator
- Project Manager: Joseph Negreira
- WP8 leader: Christian Kunze
Institution description
Smart Innovation Norway (SIN) hosts NCE Smart Energy Markets, Norway’s leading cluster of industries and academic institutions within Smart Grid and Smart Energy Market Research and Innovation. SIN develops smart and sustainable solutions through research-based innovation and business development. Emphasis is on techno-economic models and analysis, business intelligence, prosumers and user flexibility. It holds key competences in relevant and applied R&D, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and process development to cater for new businesses based on research results generated. SIN and the associated cluster have long traditions of creating energy related spinouts around new products and technologies. These include software and engineering companies like Scandpower, Hand-El Scandinavia, CognIT, MoreCom, Communicate, Navita/Brady, Miriam, eSmart Systems, Tiny Mesh, and more. Together with SINTEF and Narvik University College, SIN was a founding partner of the Norwegian Smart Grid Centre.
Main tasks attributed in the project
ANONYMOS VIOMICHANKI EMPORIKI ETAIREIA PLIROFORIKIS KAI NEON TECHNOLOGION (HYPERTECH) – GREECE
Contact
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WP3 leader: George Pitsiladis
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Team member: Antonis Papanikolaou
Institution description
Hypertech is a Greek SME founded in 1997. Its Energy Labs unit specialises in offering ICT solutions for the Smart Grid of the future. It aims to provide flexible solutions for small and medium-sized electricity consumers and integrated solutions for electric utilities and service providers (Aggregators) in the field of demand management. The business strategy of Hypertech includes research and development of advanced technologies, to create a full suite of solutions and products appealing to everyone involved in the electricity market, namely:
- Solutions for consumers: tools for creating detailed consumption profiles (Consumer Profiling), tools for personalized billing reports (Informative Billing) and innovative solutions for building automation and power-to-heat (thermal storage) in typical water heating and space heating devices.
- Solutions for public agencies and business /industrial consumers: multi-parametric solutions to optimize energy consumption without compromising business performance targets (Enterprise Performance and Sustainability), tools for the analysis and real-time monitoring of power consumption data (Billing Analysis, Monitoring and Optimization), along with energy consumption forecasting and reporting tools.
- Solutions for utilities and energy services companies: tools for analysing consumer portfolios and shaping optimized billing strategies, innovative solutions for forecasting and management of electricity demand, tools for electricity trading optimization and risk management and cutting-edge solutions for ensuring semantic interoperability between infrastructure / devices / systems of the Smart Grid, adopting the approach of the Internet of Things (Cloud and Standards-Based Services – “Internet of the Grid”).
Hypertech has been actively involved in EU co-funded R&D programmes since its establishment. In the H2020 framework, Hypertech is currently coordinating projects MERLON & UtilitEE and is the technical manager of PARITY, MERLON, BIMERR, FLEXCoop, PLANET, HOLISDER & DRIMPAC. It also currently participates as a main technology partner in FLEXIGRID, Heat4Cool, WiseGRID, iELECTRIX & NOVICE.
Hypertech holds vast experience on various aspects of the DSM spectrum and the development of innovative tools both for the consumer, as well as, for the utilities and aggregators.
Main tasks attributed in the project
CENTRO DI RICERCA, SVILUPPO E STUDI SUPERIORI IN SARDEGNA, Società a Responsabilità Limitata – ITALY
Contact
- T6.1 leader: Luca Massida
Institution description
CRS4, located in the Technology Park of Sardinia, Pula (Italy), is a RTO founded in 1990. Initially headed by the Nobel Prize in Physics Carlo Rubbia, CRS4 has a current staff of about 150 people among researchers and professionals, working at 6 main strategic sectors: Biosciences, Data-intensive Computing, HPCN, HPC for Energy and Environment, ICT-Information Society and Visual Computing. CRS4 is equipped with one of the major Italian HPC centers, the largest Next Generation DNA Sequencing platform in Italy and a state-of-the-art Visual Computing Lab. CRS4 has collaborated in +35 EU R&D projects, among which 16 in FP7 and 9 in H2020 mainly in the topics ENVIRONMENT, SECURITY, PEOPLE, SMART CITIES, INFRASTRUCTURES and ENERGY, +70 projects funded by National/Regional Research Programmes and various research contracts with the Private Sector (Oil&Gas and IT Industry).
Main tasks attributed in the project
The accurate forecasting is necessary to properly consider the great variability associated with the load of an individual household and with the power generation from renewable sources. The forecast of the separate components of the load is of great use for the implementation of a Demand Response strategy. The proposed service can be operational and available continuously for the other tools developed in the project.
TRIALOG – FRANCE
Contact
Institution description
Trialog is an consulting and engineering company which provides expertise in innovation for cyber-physical and industrial information systems.
Our work mainly focus on three domains: Energy (Smart metering, Smart Grids), Transports (e-Mobility, Intelligent Transportation System), and Social & Health (Active Ageing Living).
- In Energy sector, Trialog is helping worldwide DSOs to design, develop and validate smart metering and smart grids systems. In particular, Trialog is an active partner of Enedis for the full rollout of Linky smart metering project (35 million meters) since 2008. Trialog has participated to several Smart Grid projects and pilots in France and Europe.
- In Transports sector, Trialog provides its expertise on the whole value chain of electromobility, supporting the stakeholders with its know-how and skills on communication, proof-of-concept and platform development. Trialog focuses on charging infrastructure, vehicle-to-grid systems and autonomous vehicle. Trialog has also a well-established leadership in car communication for the car 2 car networking where security of communication and privacy are two key enablers.
- In the Social & Health domain, Trialog is developing software building blocks for the eHome market in several areas (energy management, home control, AAL). He is the leader of a French innovation project called AMISURE, which aims at improving the organisation of actors in the care service areas.
In all these domains, Trialog mainly provides expertise on telecom, standards, interoperability, resilience, privacy, security, system design, validation and operation.
Trialog is a founding member of G3-PLC Alliance, a worldwide industrial consortium to support and promote the use of G3-PLC standard. In this alliance, TRIALOG is leading the Interoperability and Certification working groups.
Trialog is actively involved in BRIDGE initiative, gathering all Horizon 2020 smart grid projects, in particular as Chair of the Data Management WG.
Trialog is a worldwide leader on standardization concerning security, privacy and interoperability, involved in ISO SC27, SC41 and in ITU-T SG17.
Main tasks attributed in the project
- Definition of the use-cases, based on IEC 62559 standard
- Design, specification and validation of the system architecture, in particular on the integration of interoperability, cyber-security and privacy, and by relying on the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM).
- Definition of cyber-security and privacy practices and requirements, and application to the developed solution and the demonstration pilots.
- Achievement of interoperability: interfaces, compatibility with legacy formats and compliance to standards.
- Analysis of scalability from ICT perspective.
- Development and demonstration of a Smart Charging EMS, supporting V2G and ensuring the traceability of both flex offers and flex activations (blockchain-based)
- Liaison with BRIDGE (Data Management WG) and standardization (mainly ISO/IEC).
NXTECH – NORWAY
Contact
Institution description
Nxtech is a Technology provider specializing in Firmware and Electronics. Nxtech can deliver turnkey product development including test & qualification as well as certification and production set-up. Nxtech have in house test facilities for testing vibration, shock, humidity, altitude, temperature, EMC and ESD.
Main tasks attributed in the project
NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET – NORWAY
Contact
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WP2 leader: Pedro Crespo
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WP5 leader: Stepan Vesely
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Team member: William Throndsen
Institution description
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) main strategy is “Knowledge for a better world” and the university works with creating solutions that can change everyday life. NTNU is Norway’s largest university, with more than 40 000 students, and 3500 academic staff members. NTNU’s main research profile is in science and technology, but also has strong research communities within the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, teacher education, medicine, architecture, and fine arts. NTNU has extensive experience in interdisciplinary research and works in close partnership with the business community, has many research projects requiring advanced technical equipment, and has over one hundred research laboratories. In 2014, NTNU professors May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discoveries of cells that make up an ‘inner GPS’ in the brain. NTNU participates actively in the EU framework programs for research and Horizon 2020 and works in partnership with world leading research communities throughout the world, including MIT, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, TU Delft, DTU, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Tokyo.
NTNU has worked with innovation for over 100 years, including entrepreneurship and commercialization, developing from education, research and artistic activities. Working together with other actors, NTNU paves the way for start-ups and as well as further development of existing companies. NTNU provides the best conditions for their academic staff’s development and recognition of merit through targeted programmes and allocations; for example, ‘Outstanding Academic Fellows Programme’, and collaboration with industry partners. NTNU is participating in or coordinating more than 150 H2020 grants.
Three NTNU departments contribute and develop the SENDER project:
- Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture. The Department is an interdisciplinary unit with a staff that covers several humanities and social sciences. The department’s employees are engaged in several major national and international research projects. The research will be carried out by the department’s Centre for energy, climate and the environment that was established to coordinate the growing and now quite large research activity focusing on important social challenges. Around 20 scholars are studying topics like energy and climate policy, energy efficiency and energy consumption, development of renewable energy, public perceptions of and engagement with climate change and sustainable energy, climate adaption, sustainable cities and transport, and strategies towards sustainability transitions. Centre for energy, climate and the environment is among the largest research communities within its focus areas in Europe. Its scholars come from Science and Technology Studies, sociology, political science, anthropology, organisation studies, and gender studies.
- Department of Psychology. The Department is engaged in research across a broad range of disciplines and provides high quality research environment for staff and students. The Department has a strong tradition of interdisciplinary research and participates in both national and international collaborative projects. The research group for “citizen, environment, and safety” analyses drivers of environmentally relevant consumption from small-scale every day consumption decisions to large-scale investment decisions. Many of these decisions are energy related. Furthermore, potentials for behavioural change and the analysis of change processes is a research topic of the group across behavioural domains. Research projects are targeting high impact behaviours in the domains energy use, transport, housing, food, consumption, leisure, culture and empowerment. The group has a large number of national and international research grants, many of them as coordinators.
- Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management (IØT). The department has challenging and inspiring educational programs and research projects in the cross-disciplinary field of technology management. The energy research group at IØT has strong competence on: managing uncertainty in power systems, developing bidding models for producers and aggregators, formulating electricity market designs options, planning and operation of transmission and distribution grids, analyzing balancing of renewable energy, assessing the optimal utilization of distributed flexible resources, and recommending European energy policies. IØT is host institute of FME NTRANS – Norwegian Center of Energy Transition Strategies. IØT also leads the NTNU Energy Transition Initiative that coordinates all research at NTNU on energy transition strategies.
Main tasks attributed in the project
UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES UPPER AUSTRIA – AUSTRIA
Contact
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T4.3 leader: Wilhelm Süßenbacher
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T8.1 leader: Michael Schmidthaler
Institution description
With more than 6000 students in 70 internationally recognized degree programmes, 450 academics in research and teaching and students from 60 different countries, the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria is an important player in university education in Austria. Cooperations with 250 partner universities worldwide and more than 1,000 industry partners provide a vast amount of opportunities in international education and research.
Main tasks attributed in the project
EUROQUALITY – FRANCE
Contact
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T1.1 leader: Raphaëlle.viguier
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WP9 leader: Solène Fovelle
Institution description
Established in 1997, Euroquality is a service provider specialised in innovation consulting and project management. Its main activities are innovation consulting, economic studies, policy evaluation, technological and technical studies, development of communication material, training, and the management of national and European projects. For 20 years, Euroquality has been able to adapt the different technological mutations and always be at the top of the state of the art, advising international clients on the development of their innovations. Euroquality has also been involved as a partner in a large number of projects on PF6, FP7, H2020, LIFE +, LIFE, Leonardo and Erasmus+ programmes, bringing its knowledge on several technical topics and its strong expertise on the management of EU projects and rules. This expertise is considered essential by most coordinator of projects EQY has worked with, as it helps ensuring the right implementation of the project in due time and by respecting the rules, using already approved methodologies and tools.
Main tasks attributed in the project
ECOSERVEIS ASSOCIATION-ECOSERVEIS – SPAIN
Contact
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T3.2 leader: Camila Canelas Navarro
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WP7 leader: Aniol Esquerra Alsius
- Team member: Adrià Serarols
- Team member: Federica Giardina
Institution description
Ecoserveis is a non-profit consultancy specialised on energy management issues, and working on promotion and education on energy, energy efficiency and renewable energies. It works on the relations between energy and society identifying their energy needs, providing solutions and building bridges between society and technology, research and innovation in order to promote a fair and sustainable energy model. It was created in 1992 to approach the scientific-technological field to society.
Ecoserveis trains, offers solutions and gives advice to professionals, administrations, companies and entities in the fields of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy rights, sustainable mobility, financing sustainable energy, IoT, climate change and environmental protection. The organization also carries out community engagement actions and projects that mobilize social groups to disseminate the advantages of the efficient use of energy and to promote renewable energy.
Ecoserveis has participated in more than 30 European projects that burst the innovation in the energy and society fields in different programs (FP7, SAVE, ALTENER, IEE, Comenius, Erasmus, H2020), and the entity works in close collaboration with a broad local, national and European private/public network.
Main tasks attributed in the project
ALGINET DISTRIBUCIÓN ENERGÍA ELÉCTRICA S.L.U. – SPAIN
Contact
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WP7 team member: Gemma Llopis
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WP7 team member: Alma Solar
Institution description
Alginet Distribución Energía Eléctrica is a local DSO located in the area of Alginet, the entity is part of the Group Cooperativa Elèctrica d’Alginet (Alginet’s Electric Cooperative Group) and its sole and only shareholder is the Cooperative.
Being part of the Alginet Electric Cooperative group, the DSO in Alginet breeds from the cooperative principles and is always trying to put the end users in the centre of their business decisions. Bearing that in mind, the DSO has always been trying to reinvest their benefits into a better infrastructure and new services for its customers, who are the core and main part of the group, as they are not only customers but also company associates.
The DSO supplies electricity to more than 5700 supply points by means of more than 40 MV/LV transformation centres, with an installed power of 18,000 kW. The company has also finalized a major project in 2014; the installation of a new electrical substation, enabling the capture of energy in a higher voltage level (132 000 V.) for further processing. The HV/MM substation is of exclusive use of the cooperative’s DSO. With the construction of the new facility, the electric cooperative of Alginet was the first cooperative to manage a substation in property in Spain.
Additionally, a pioneer system of smart metering was implemented in the Alginet’s DSO in 2008. Since then, all the end users of the Alginet network are equipped with smart meters at their end user points. This allows the DSO not only to measure the user’s consumption remotely, but also to manage and control the whole grid in a smart and efficient way. This smart metering system allows the retailer of the cooperative group (Suministros Especiales Alginetenses) to provide a detailed invoice to the end users, providing information about the amount of energy used per day, based on real measurements, and the mean hourly distribution of the energy consumption.
Alginet will run one of the project pilot test sites for the demonstration, validation, assessment and promotion of the results developed within the project. Specifically, the project results will be tested in real conditions in Alginet, a town near Valencia (Spain) with 13 100 inhabitants, where the electricity distribution and supply are managed locally by the electric cooperative and its DSO, Alginet Distribución Energía Eléctrica.
Main tasks attributed in the project
WEIZER ENERGY AND INNOVATION CENTRE – AUSTRIA
Contact
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WP7 team member: Gottfried Köberl
Institution description
The Weizer Energy Innovation Center GmbH (W.E.I.Z.) as a regional contact point for the main topics “Energy” and “Innovation” is an important driver for the economic structural change in the region of Eastern Styria. As a network-oriented partner for economic development, W.E.I.Z. meanwhile beyond the region as a contact point for sustainable activities v.a. known as “ecological building & living, energy efficiency and renewable energies”. Outsourced from the parent company, W.E.I.Z. Immobilien GmbH, with the in-house R & D department of the project agency Weizer Energy Innovation Center GmbH, a wide variety of R & D and innovation projects at regional, national and international level are developed and promoted. Concrete R & D fields to the o.a. Focal points include u.a. Energy innovations in the areas of cross-grid decoupled power supply, waste heat recovery from industrial plants, CHP based on biomass (wood gasification, electric generators), and the development and promotion of regional energy concepts (SECAP), energy analyzes (energy cadastre) and energy measures (KISS KlimaInitiative SonnenStrom) Blackout protection promotion and counseling).
Main tasks attributed in the project
VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD – FINLAND
Contact
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WP7 team member: Matti Aro
- WP7 team member: Anni Niemi
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WP7 team member: Kalle Rauma
Institution description
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (VTT), is a state owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company established by law. Act on the Limited Liability Company Called VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (8761/2014) lays down provisions on the operations and status of VTT (this Act enters into force 1st of January 2015 and supersedes the Act on the Technical Research Centre of Finland 953/2010 and all amendments subsequently made to it). The Ministry of Employment and the Economy is responsible for state ownership steering.
As an impartial non-profit Research and Technology Organization (RTO) and with the national mandate and mission to support economic competitiveness, societal development and innovation, VTT carries out research and innovation activities for the needs of industry and knowledge-based society. In 2018, VTT’s net turnover was 159,7 million € and other operational incomes were 81,2 million €, with highly educated personnel of 2054. VTT receives approximately one third of its total income directly from the Finnish government. This allows VTT to carry out the high-risk strategic research and to invest in research and technology infrastructures, which are necessary to generate the knowledge and know-how required for fulfilling VTT’s public mandate.
To contribute to EU goals for 2020 and beyond VTT works in synergy with the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, with regional innovation networks throughout Finland and with numerous European platforms and partnerships. Within Horizon 2020, VTT aims at renewal of European industrial value chains increasing EU competitiveness while strengthening dynamic ecosystems and addressing Societal Challenges.
VTT has a long and vast experience in EU projects under different funding programs and other frameworks (also PPPs, EITs, EIPs, etc.). On average, the share of industry partners was 48% in those consortia where VTT was engaged in FP7. In 2018, VTT was involved in 403 EU-funded research projects (278 within H2020). Ranked among the leading European RTOs, VTT is committed to responsible collaboration for achieving the Europe 2020 goals by networking with Finnish and European actors in the global context.
Main tasks attributed in the project
PARAGON – GREECE
Contact
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T8.4 leader: Harry Tsahalis
- WP7 team member: Jason Tsahalis
Institution description
PARAGON S.A. is a research, technology and development SME active in R&D and commercial services for applications in Transport, ICT, Processes & Manufacturing, and Security. Our RTD activities range from in-house development projects to solutions and applications development and provision and to participation to RTD consortia as an SME Research partner. Paragon’s main expertise is creation of digital twins via ANN combined with multi-objective optimisation via Genetic Algorithms. Specifically, Paragon specializes in Artificial Intelligence techniques including human perception, modelling and digital twins, pattern recognition and forecasting; as well as multi-objective optimisation using Genetic Algorithms (all applied in aeronautics, security, energy, factories, etc.).To date PARAGON has participated to 30 research initiatives in EC FP4 – H2020 in Aeronautics (incl. Clean Sky JU), ICT, Factories of the Future (FoF), Energy, Environment, and Security. Commercial activities comprise of a range of services, that include scientific and measurement applications and support (experimental, industrial, occupational safety & health), specialized applications development, and commercial representation of major and specialist manufacturers of industrial and scientific instrumentation from the EU and the USA to markets in Greece and South Eastern Europe. PARAGON is also a sponsor – co-organizer of the biennial international conferences IC-EpsMsO – International Conference on “Experiments – Process – System Modeling – Simulation – Optimization” (www.epsmso.gr) and IC-SCCE – International Conference “from Scientific Computing to Computational Engineering” (www.scce.gr). Most recent EC research projects participations include PRECOM (H2020, FoF, Linnaeus University), ASCENT (H2020, Clean Sky, Aerosertec), INTEFIX (FP7, Factories of the Future, IK-4 Tekniker), FoFdation (FP7, Factories of the Future, Airbus), ACTUATION 2015 (FP7, Aeronautics, Goodrich Actuation Systems), CRESCENDO (FP7, Aeronautics, Airbus), iProd (FP7, ICT, LMS Intl.), WENEMOR (FP7, Clean Sky, Trinity College Dublin), MIPMaDe (FP7, DG Home, Isdefe).
Main tasks attributed in the project
AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GMBH – AUSTRIA
Contact
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T6.3 leader: Jawad Kazmi
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T6.4 leader: Mark Stefan
Institution description
AIT is Austria’s largest non-university research organization with more than 1.300 employees. It takes a leading position in the Austrian innovation system and a corresponding key role in Europe. In the field of Smart Grids and DER integration AIT’s main expertise is in low and medium voltage technology, power quality, safety and reliability analysis. The AIT Center for Energy has long term experience in active integration of distributed generation in power distribution networks and related applications. AIT provides an excellent national and international network. It is represented in several technology platforms, namely the National Technology Platform Smart Grids Austria (NTP) and the European Technology Platform for Electricity Networks of the Future. It is also involved in EERA Joint Programs on Smart Grids and PV and several Implementing Agreements of the International Energy Agency (ISGAN/SIRFN, PVPS). AIT has considerable research experience in the area of integrating DER into electricity networks and has participated and led a number of national and international research projects.
Main tasks attributed in the project
QUE TECHNOLOGIES IKE – GREECE
Contact
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Team member: Panagiotis Andriopoulos
- Team member: Antonis Stratis
Institution description
QUE Technologies is an Athens, Greece based company with the mission to fuse technologies from the block-chain and the IoT domains to facilitate automated flexibility exchange through the use of smart contracts triggered by real-time context information. Our goal is to re-invent Building Control by introducing the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm into Human Centric cutting-edge Building Management Systems for Homes and Offices that interact with the neighborhood and the energy system in a Smart City paradigm.
Business Intelligence – Harnessing the power of data, QUE visual analytics tools allow Smart Grid actors to gain deep insights about the energy performance of assets or clients and support decision making processes for the participation of distributed demand sources in the energy markets. These BI enable the assessment of building demand potential for ancillary services and to define optimal management strategies for their integration in the energy system. Aggregators can on-the-fly assemble, monitor and manage Virtual Power Plants from small distributed loads; Energy Service Companies and Facility Managers can evaluate the energy performance of buildings at real-time; Building Residents can understand their energy usage patterns and opportunities to improve efficiency.
Our team members are combining their forces and expertise from many years of research and industrial experience in various disciplines, from electrical engineering to machine learning and semantic web, with the primary goal to deliver a purely automated and personalized experience that will offer high occupant comfort and satisfaction. We strongly believe that houses should become comfortable homes that sense what occupants need. We claim that offices should become stimulating living workplaces that always respect people’s real-time preferences.
Our heritage comes from many years of research and technological development. QUE solutions build on top of emerging technologies and innovative prototypes that have stemmed from ground-breaking research in the scope of the European Competitive Research Framework Programme.