The Energy Systems Integration Programme (JP ESI), one of the newest EERA programmes, has been growing steadily over the past few years. Currently, its membership consists of more than 25 universities and research centers and more are expected to join at the next Steering Committee meeting in May.

The focus of the program is the technical and economic framework that government and industries will need to build the future efficient and sustainable European energy system. The programme complements technology research and development with analyses of how energy infrastructures function now and should function in the future, both in terms of technical operation, economics and regulation. The three main activities are the organisation of networking events and conferences, joint preparation of research proposals and the provision of input to the European Commission regarding research priorities and results. Recently, the first project that was developed by the programme was approved: the Trade-RES (H2020) project, led by Ana Estanqueiro of LNEG (Portugal).

The Energy Systems Integration Programme organises two regular meetings per year, often with a public seminar or conference in addition to a meeting of the members. In spring of 2019, EERA ESI co-hosted a conference on 100% renewable energy systems together with the Energy Systems Integration Group, a worldwide sister organisation. In fall, we organised two workshops in Stavanger that were focused on European energy researchers, one on the technology of energy systems integration and the other, which was organised jointly with the EERA E3S programme, on consumer behavior. In addition, there was an ad-hoc workshop on modeling approaches to integrated systems analyses, as the inherently large scope of system integration questions poses significant challenges to computer modeling methodology.

This spring, we are organising a two-day conference in Leuven in which we will exchange the state-of-the-art on methods for determining – and minimizing – the cost of decarbonization. While new technologies are often characterized by their levelized cost of electricity or similar indicators, this provides a poor indicator of their societal benefits. The goal of the conference is to establish methods for determining the costs and benefits of different technologies at the system level. This event is for members and by invitation only.

With a growing membership, the Energy Systems Integration Programme is developing a wide variety of activities for the exchange of knowledge and ideas between members as well as with the sector and government. The first research project that came out of this program will hopefully soon be followed by more, so we can contribute to an efficient and effective decarbonization strategy for Europe.