InteGrid’s vision is to bridge the gap between citizens, technology and the other players of the energy system. The project will demonstrate how DSOs may enable all stakeholders to actively participate in the energy market and distribution grid management and develop and implement new business models, making use of new data management and consumer involvement approaches. Moreover, the consortium will demonstrate scalable and replicable solutions in an integrated environment that enables DSOs to plan and operate the network with a high share of DRES in a stable, secure and economic way, using flexibility inherently offered by specific technologies and by interaction with different stakeholders. To achieve these objectives, a complementary partnership covering the distribution system value chain has been established. The consortium includes three DSOs from different countries and their retailers, innovative ICT companies and equipment manufacturers as well as customers, a start-up in the area of community engagement and excellent R&D institutions. InteGrid’s concepts and approaches are based on the these two elements: 1. the role of the DSO as system optimiser and as market facilitator and 2. the integration of existing demonstration activities in three different regions allowing to move from single solutions to an integrated management at a higher scale while focusing on the scalability and replicability considering current and evolving market (and regulatory) conditions. The three conceptual pillars – proactive operational planning with DER, business models for flexible DER, information exchange between different power system actors – offer an opportunity to maximize the economic, societal and environmental gains from the combined integration of DRES and flexible DER. A market hub platform coupled with smart grid functions and innovative business models will open opportunities for new services and an effective roll-out of emerging technologies in the short-term.

RESCCUE aims to deliver a framework enabling city resilience assessment, planning and management by integrating into software tools new knowledge related to the detailed water-centred modelling of strategic urban services performance into a comprehensive resilience platform. These tools will assess urban resilience from a multisectorial approach, for current and future climate change scenarios and including multiple hazards. The project will review and integrate in the general framework existing options to assess climate change impacts and urban systems vulnerabilities allowing to assess multisectorial dependencies under multiple climate change scenarios. An adaptation strategies portfolio, including climate services, ecosystem-based approaches and resource efficiency measures will be incorporated as key components of the deployment strategy. The possible approaches will be ranked by their cost-efficiency in terms of CAPEX and OPEX to evaluate their benefits potential. This will enable city managers and urban system operators deciding the optimal investments to cope with future situations. The validation platform is formed by 3 EU cities (Barcelona, Lisboa and Bristol) that will allow testing the innovative tools developed in the project and disseminating their results among other cities belonging to major international networks. In terms of market potential, RESCCUE will generate large potential benefits, in terms of avoided costs during and after emergencies, that will contribute to their large-scale deployment. The structure of the consortium will guarantee the market uptake of the results, as the complete value chain needed is already represented. The project is coordinated by Aquatec, a large consultancy firm part of a multinational company focused on securing and recovering resources, and includes partners from the research domain, operation of critical urban systems, city managers and international organisations devoted to urban resilience.