IRCO Projects Repository
One of the key pillars of the Innovation & Research Committee is the experience exchange between European DSOs, to identify, inspire and replicate the best practices in innovative activities. For this purpose, IRCO has created an internal “Projects Repository”, that collects and categorises the innovation projects of member DSOs.
Although the detailed information on the projects cannot be shared publicly, there is also an added value in analysing the general trends in the data. Since the Repository covers projects that are financed not only by EU funds, but also from national sources and companies’ own investments, the resulting statistics presents a very accurate picture of what innovation activities are currently at the centre of DSO focus.
The figure below shows what are currently the main topics of DSO innovation activities. Several topics clearly emerge at the centre of focus: Flexibility and network management; Grid maintenance and planning; Smart equipment; and Smart metering and Grid observability.
Overview of the most common project topics
| Research project area | Nr of projects |
|---|---|
| Flexibility markets and other network management schemes | 29 |
| Grid maintenance and planning | 20 |
| Smart network equipment (substations…) | 13 |
| Smart meters and grid observability | 11 |
| Consumer engagement and energy communities | 9 |
| Electromobility | 7 |
| Customer service | 5 |
| Cross-sector integration | 5 |
| Digital twin and data spaces | 5 |
| Digitalisation | 5 |
| Energy Storage | 4 |
| Climate adaptation | 4 |
| Big data use | 4 |
| TSO-DSO coordination | 3 |
| Decarbonization | 2 |
| Open data | 1 |
| Upgrade of internal systems | 1 |
| Upskilling | 1 |
| Hydrogen gas transport, storage, production | 1 |
IRCO Projects Repository
The purpose of this database is to share the basic information about E.DSO members’ R&I projects, providing a first step in establishing contacts and exchanging know-how between companies.