In an effort to address high energy consumption in the building sector that is mainly fossil – fuelled, support rural areas and areas powered by weak grids and achieve higher grid penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) while maintaining grid stability and power quality, this project aims at the implementation of cross border pilots that will support innovative and cost – effective energy rehabilitation in public buildings based on the nanogrid concept. BERLIN project focuses on the increase of photovoltaics (PV) penetration, which coupled with energy storage and demand – side management (DSM) will increase the energy efficiency (EE) of the buildings. The implementation of these technologies in a cost – effective way will result in high level of self – resilient public buildings that are green, smart, innovative, and sustainable. A total of 6 pilot sites have been selected: 1 in Cyprus, 2 in Greece, 2 in Israel and 1 in Italy.

COVID-19 pandemic has delayed slightly the technical developments of the project, however as the restrictions lessen partners were able to move forward with the installation of the equipment and the gathering of data. Below is a short summary on the progress that has been achieved so far in each country.

Cyprus

University of Cyprus announced the tender for the supply and installation of a turnkey solution, smart nanogrid at its premises in the PV Lab. The initial deadline was on 18 January 2022, however due to a request from interested parties’ initial submission date for offers was extended to 22 February 2022. Interested parties to submit an offer, were given the opportunity to visit the pilot site on several occasions. It is anticipated that within March 2022 submitted tenders will be evaluated by the relevant evaluation committee and tenderers will be informed accordingly.

Greece

The purchased equipment has been completely installed in February 2022.  Both pilot sites are currently at the commissioning phase. The installed subsystems are integrated together to form the desired pilot nanogrid and are tested as a system to verify the tender specification requirements. The required permission by the distribution system operator (HEDNO) for the PV and storage systems capacity increase is in process. This permission is required for the building of the former Town Hall, which is located in Kozani.

Israel

The tender for the supply and installation of a turnkey solution, smart nanogrid was released in March 2022 for Eilot Regional Council and in April 2022 for Eilat city.

Italy

The University of Cagliari (UNICA) completed the installation of outdoor weather station in the pilot building of the Campus, monitored in remote mode. Smart plugs, sensors and smart multi-meters have been installed in the existing electric distribution of the building for the remote control of loads.

The Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) & Energy Management System procurement has been completed, and in the first phase they have been installed in the UNICA Laboratory at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, to start analysing the operation of the BESS with the Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) already available in the Lab. The installation of the photovoltaic system on the rooftop of the pilot building and the demand – side management equipment within the building is anticipated, and the relative tender has been completed.