Due to the prevailing lockdown measures, the first meeting of the Intelligent Utilization of Photovoltaic Technology in the Mediterranean region (IUPVMED) Hub was organized online on 30 November 2020.  

The Hub consists of key stakeholders from the academia, DSOs, industry and local authorities that have committed themselves to a fruitful collaboration for promoting the wider adoption of distributed energy resources in the Mediterranean region. The objective of the meeting was to introduce the project and to present the current situation in each country (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Israel) about the photovoltaics (PVs), energy storage systems (ESSs), and demand side management (DSM) to increase the energy efficiency of buildings using the nano-grid concept. The participants discussed possible ways to assess the barriers and challenges that exist and prevent the further penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in the four Mediterranean countries participated in the project. The main conclusion of the meeting was that the successful integration of PVs, ESSs and DSM under the concept of a nanogrid would be facilitated through the provision of financial incentives and the establishment of proper legislation and market regulations.

BERLIN partners would like to thank Prof. Grigoris Papagiannis from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Dr. Venizelos Efthymiou from FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy for accepting the invitation to moderate the round-table discussions of the first meeting of the Hub.