During the 4th and 5th of October, Extremadura’s two mirror regions visited Badajoz and Cáceres to know more about how the transition lab implementation could be replicated in their territories. They also learned about the regional energy ecosystem, research and innovation initiatives, and policies to explore different opportunities for collaboration.
Representatives from Málaga Tech Park, in Andalucia, and from the Innovation Agency, in Lithuania, participated in this two-day event hosted by RIPEET’s two regional partners, Fundceyt-PCTEX and AGENEX.
During the first day, all participants visited the temporary facilities of the Iberian Energy Storage Research Centre - CIIAE – Centro Ibérico de Investigación en Almacenamiento Energético and had the opportunity to meet the researchers, who presented their fields of work and showed some of the new equipment already purchased. The CIIAE is the response to the technological and scientific challenges in manageability of green energy and will cover: energy storage based on different technologies (Li, Na, flow batteries, supercapacitors, metal-air, etc.) along with the development of the most innovative concepts in Circular Economy; generation of hydrogen, catalysis for production of synthetic fuels, CO2 capture, industrial applications of hydrogen; thermal energy storage; atomic simulation; and technical-economic, life cycle analysis, circular economy, analysis and regulation of energy systems.
After this, the group visited the Proyecto EDEA | EDEA CICE (juntaex.es) demonstrators, two prototype twin buildings developed within an EU-funded project through the LIFE programme. Both buildings have a similar typology than the one used for public (social) housing developed by the Government of Extremadura. This allows to monitor and compare energy data and performance in real time, testing sustainable energy solutions and their impact in energy efficiency.
In the afternoon, a spin off from the University of Extremadura, SENERGYPS Products and Services, hosted a very interesting visit around their lab, sharing their work in three main fields of action: photovoltaics O&M, electric mobility and R&D&I, where many questions were raised.
The second day took off with the visit to CTAEX, the National Agri-Food Technological Centre of Extremadura. Its main goal and commitment are to offer research, development, innovation, analysis, training and information services, contributing to the competitive development of the companies in the agrifood sector, and to consumers’ safety. The topic that raised a higher interest is the research done on the potential of bioenergy through valorisation of waste and by-products.
The last visit addressed sustainable mobility and allowed participants to try the efficient driving simulator in the facilities of Badajoz’s Sustainable Urban Transport company - Expertos en Movilidad - Grupo Ruiz. The 100% electric buses used for city transport, the application used for on-demand transport, the electric vehicles car-sharing scheme (MINITS), PV-powered chargers and the social work done by the company were all presented.
The closure of the two-day peer learning study visit was in the afternoon with the RIPEET Exchange of Experiences Session. In this session, the mirror regions were updated on the implementation of RIPEET project and on the development of the innovative solution in Extremadura. Participants worked together to identify potential future collaborations and synergies for new projects on energy transition topics.
