PROMINT-CM project (Comunidad de Madrid Smart Microgrid Programme) is a finalist in the enerTIC Awards 2020 after the vote of the expert committee formed by the associated companies and the Institutional Collaboration Network of the EnerTIC Platform.

Francisco Javier Rodríguez Sánchez, coordinator of PROMINT, was interviewed on 23 October at the EnerTIC Platform on the occasion of the nomination of the project as a finalist in the enerTIC Awards.

What role does technology play in making buildings/institutions/cities/industries/data centres more energy efficient? What do you see as the most relevant trends in this area?

Today's technologies provide the necessary support to move rapidly towards improved energy efficiency in cities, businesses, industries and buildings. They facilitate the migration towards the new concept of prosumers (consumers and producers), give consumers a more active role in energy management, being able to adapt demand at every moment; they allow the integration of renewable energies, the creation of smart micro or nano-grids and, finally, optimise the management of energy storage.

Among the most relevant trends related to energy efficiency, especially in the urban sphere, is the implementation of microgrids that allow distributed generation and energy management of transport systems (metro and suburban) to be addressed jointly, including energy recovery, all in synergic collaboration with the electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

What actions recently developed by the UAH do you consider most relevant in terms of Energy Efficiency? What role has ICT played?

In recent years, environmental studies and action plans have been a constant feature of UAH policy, including those related to energy efficiency: thermographic reports on UAH buildings; energy audits and improvements in public lighting; the first solar-powered electric vehicle charging point on campus in Spain; a protocol on energy saving, among others.

Thus, the UAH has obtained several awards such as the "Campus of International Excellence in Intelligent Energy: Bioenergy & Smarts Cities".

It currently coordinates the PROMINT programme, which addresses the problems associated with micro-grids from different points of view, namely: communications and protocol support, energy management, control and power electronics, storage, energy recovery and automatic learning and artificial intelligence techniques to integrate predictions and accurate modelling to enable optimal management of energy resources.

How would you like to see Spain, energy-wise, in 2030?

Historically, it has been known that Spain had a great opportunity with renewable energies, particularly with solar energy, but until today it has not been possible to find a meeting point between social interest, political priorities, legislation and production costs. I believe that the time has come for Spain to lead the massive conversion to renewable energies by 2030, both for electricity production and for other uses (especially transport and energy exports), integrating storage solutions, basically batteries and 'green' hydrogen, and the intensive application of ICTs for the intelligent management of generation, storage and demand.

Until 6 November you can vote for our project in Plataforma EnerTIC in the category "Smart Grid".

Source: EnerTIC