REACT Project EU

REACT is a 4-year research project funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 Programme. Its objective is to allow island communities to engage in a cooperative energy management strategy by providing them with a scalable ICT platform to administer their Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and storage enabled infrastructures. When it comes to the traditional electrical energy grid model, geographical islands often suffer from several barriers. They are highly dependent on the mainland energy market, but transmission of energy is often inefficient and expensive. This affects their energy security and increases energy costs by up to 400% with respect to the mainland. Additionally, many islands have significant population fluctuations between the high and low tourist seasons, resulting in highly variable energy load profiles. To tackle these barriers, the ability to predict, control and manage variable load profiles is key. If coupled with an energy storage technology, a greater share of renewable energy and grid stability and resilience could be ensured. Our project addresses the core of the problem by joining RES technologies available in the pilots sites and from consortium technology providers, with innovative energy storage solutions and the necessary know-how to set up a scalable ICT platform. With this, REACT will provide benefits to both energy grid stakeholders and end consumers, allowing for energy savings, carbon emission and energy cost reduction. Three demo islands will validate the initial viability of the project: La Graciosa (Spain), San Pietro (Italy) and Aran Islands (Ireland). Five “follower” islands will join for scale-up and large-scale replication: Gotland Island (Sweden), Lesvos (Greece), Isle of Wight (UK), Mallorca (Spain) and Reunion Island (France). By project’s end, island communities will be fully trained and engaged to take full ownership of REACT's solution and its business ecosystem. Funded by EU H2020. GA no. 824395