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The 8th international VERDE.TEC exhibition, dedicated to Environment, Circular Economy, and Smart Cities was organized in February 27–28 and March 1, 2026 in Mediterranean Exhibition Centre, Paiania, Greece! In the framework of the exhibition, Greek Green Awards 2026 have been given to organizations, local government bodies and environmental protection companies, in recognition of best practices in their field. The award for the ‘Best European Project for the Environment’ goes to ICCS/NTUA for the RE-EMPOWERED project!
The EU-India H2020 RE-EMPOWERED project coordinated by SmartRUE research group of ICCS-NTUA and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has developed a holistic architecture comprising 10 innovative tools for the decarbonization of local energy systems such as power electronic converters, energy management systems, smart meter, digital tools for community engagement and tool's interfacing, energy planning system, charging station, resilient structures and air quality monitoring system. These tools have been successfully tested in four demo sites in Europe and India, Bornholm (Denmark), Kythnos and Gaidouromantra microgrid (Greece), Ghoramara (India), Keonjhar (India), providing significant positive impact.
The economic impact of the project installations is manifested by the reduction of their operational costs, while RES utilization was increased in all demos.In some cases, such as the Gaidouromantra microgrid, the reductions of operational costs reached up to 55%, resulting from the reduced operation of the diesel generator. In Bornholm island the co-optimization of electric power and district heating led to 11% RES increase and 14.4% reduced overall costs due to ecoEMS. The integration of the digital tools with reliable data management has significantly raised the level of system digitalization.
Considering the environmental impact, the implemented solutions have shown a reduction of CO2 emissions by 8.3% in Bornholm Demo Site and by 66.6% in the Gaidouromantra microgrid. At a smaller scale, the replacement of the five electric three wheelers at Ghoramara have resulted in 83.3% reduction of CO2 emissions.
Regarding the social impact, in the Keonjhar microgrid (integrating PV and storage with biomass and biogas in a circular economy), clean energy is now provided to 75 households, ensuring a 24-hour electricity supply, compared to the previous light limitation of 4 hours per day. This higher access to electricity has facilitated the creation of 4-5 new microenterprises and attracted 7-10 new commercial customers. Thanks to approximately 4-4.5 extra hours of night time lighting, commercial and social activities have been enriched, and students have better conditions to study during the evening. On Ghoramara Island, the microgrid has achieved a significant milestone by electrifying 650 households, without previous access to electricity. Additionally, the project is set to connect 490 more households in the coming months. Beyond residential electrification, the project has fostered economic growth in the island by enabling a permanent market with 8-10 local growers and vendors and 10-12 shops, supported by a high light mast.
RE-EMPOWERED project has significantly enhanced citizens engagement through 41 training activities and has been disseminated widely through more than 80 dissemination events, 13 scientific journal papers and 16 scientific conference papers (one of them was selected as one of the Best Conference Papers at the 2023 IEEE PES General Meeting), while 1 patent was also filed. The commercialization of ecoMicrogrid tool, the electrification of more than 700 households, the significant CO2 emission reductions at the installations and the formation of a citizen energy community in India prove the significant contribution of the project to the energy transition, the improvement of living conditions and the citizen engagement.
For more information access our newly published article at IEEE Electrification Magazine:
https://lnkd.in/dbUXYFnA
