The representatives of partner companies in the SINCRO.GRID project signed a contract in Brussels on the allocation of subsidies under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme.
The smart grid project, co-financed in the amount of EUR 40.5 million, is one of the 18 key projects, proposed by the European Commission in the field of key energy infrastructural projects to Member States for further adoption. By authorisation of the European Commission, the INEA agency implemented the procurement procedure.
The representative of the project coordinator, i.e. the director of ELES, mag. Aleksander Mervar, signed the contract with INEA's director, Dirk Beckers.
The SINCRO.GRID project coordinated by ELES and incorporating HOPS Croatian transmission network operator, SODO Slovenian distribution network operator and HEP-ODS Croatian distribution network operator, is the first project in the smart grid sector, co-financed under the CEF programme. INEA commended the SINCRO.GRID project, which got the highest score at the tender. The application was very well assessed and the project is an example of good cross-border cooperation and a best practice case in smart grid development. In 2015, the SINCRO.GRID project was also added to the European Projects of Common Interest list.
The value of the project is EUR 88.6 million. EUR 79.4 million eligible costs were applied to the second tender of the European Commission, implemented by the INEA agency in 2016, of which the agency will allocate EUR 40.5 million to Slovenian and Croatian partners. A successful application to the CEF tender is the result of joint efforts of ELES and project partners. In Slovenia, the project was actively supported by the Prime Minister, Dr Miro Cerar, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Energy Directorate, and the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning. Due to collaboration, Slovenia will be able to spend EUR 26.9 million subsidies from the CEF mechanism by 2021.
The purpose of the SINCRO.GRID project is to enable a more efficient use of the existing electric power network in Slovenia and Croatia. In this way the existing infrastructure will enable the input of larger quantities of electric power from renewable resources and a more reliable supply of electric energy. By implementing this project, the electric power system in Slovenia and in Croatia will enable improved provision of an appropriate voltage profile and systemic services according to secondary reserve power.
Until today, individual operators tackled this problem in various ways. Therefore, it is wise to combine and unify activities to optimise challenge management and achieve greater synergy. Both distribution system operators, SODO and HEP-ODS will strengthen the detection of the distribution system by providing the tools for predicting production from dispersed energy sources. ELES and HOPS transmission network operators will be responsible for implementing envisaged technologies in their own networks. This will help both transmission network operators to predict the needs for systemic services and to ensure the appropriate voltage profile. The distribution system and transmission network control centres will be connected via ICT infrastructure and system integration.
The project will integrate new advanced technologies and elements that will be connected via a virtual inter-state centre with an integrated advanced data processing method.
EUR 5.35 billion are envisaged for various infrastructure Projects of common interest under the CEF programme from 2014 to 2020. There were 34 projects selected in 2014 (EUR 647 million), 35 projects in 2015 (EUR 366 million) and 27 of all CEF projects (EUR 707 million) selected last year.
Website of the project: www.sincrogrid.eu.
SINCRO.GRID project partners:
