This holiday season should inspire to contribute to the EU Consultation on the new Renewable Energy post 2020 directive: the objective of this survey is to consult stakeholders and citizens on the new renewable energy directive (REDII) for the period 2020-2030, foreseen before the end of 2016 that wil include renewable energy in transport. The consultation is open till February 10, 2016.

Storage of Renwable Energy  is one of the topics that was also featured at the European Association of Storage of Energy (EASE) event on December 9 in Brussels. EU Commission vice president for the Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič, stated that “compared to cables, local electricity storage is faster and enjoys much higher public acceptance. Storage solutions provide flexibility as many storage technologies are scalable and geographically independent, applicable also at local level. This makes them an attractive solution which can accommodate the needs of various changing generation and consumption technologies.” He also announced that “the year 2016 which will be the Energy Union’s ‘year of delivery’ during which we will present 90% of our actions as part of the Energy Union Strategy. This includes legislation on the new Electricity Market Design and Security of Electricity Supply, the Energy Efficiency package and the Renewable Energy package.”

An example of one of the larger EU-funded projects is exploring energy storage by aiming to develop solid-state hydrogen storage units that are combined with smart grid systems to smooth out the up and down flows of variable renewable power on the grid. INGRID hopes to integrate intelligent monitoring and communication systems into the grid, alongside the hydrogen storage technologies, in order to balance variable renewable electricity supply with electricity demand, while avoiding additional investments in distribution grid infrastructure. The INGRID demonstration site is located in Puglia, Italy – the Italian region with the largest amount of renewable power. It comprises a 39 MWh energy storage facility – which can safely store more than one ton of hydrogen – and smart grid technology. Storage can not only balance times of high renewable production and low demand, but also overcome the fact that renewable power sources, for example a wind farm located in remote upland, are often far from the biggest zones of power demand in urban areas. The total budget for this project is €24 061 416, including an EU contribution of €13 789 563.