CITIC participates in the European project on sustainable energy communities in the Atlantic region for decarbonisation

José Luis Calvo Rolle and Héctor Quintián, researchers at CITIC, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence, are members of the SAtComm, a European project for sustainable energy communities in the Atlantic region and which has recently released its advances in decarbonisation. This Atlantic Interreg project has eleven public and private partners from four countries (Spain, Ireland, Portugal and France) and funding of more than three million euros. The CITIC corresponds to, located in the Atlantic area, includes eleven public and private entities from four different countries (Spain, Ireland, Portugal, and France) and has a total budget of over three million euros.

Self-managing clean energy

Energy Communities (ECs) are legal entities composed of members that generate and consume their own renewable energy and are able to sell any surplus to other clients close to the generation point. This enables citizens as well as industrial sectors, to manage energy generation, demand, and storage efficiently, without the need for intermediaries.

The SAtComm project, scheduled for completion in November 2026, focuses on defining an efficient and sustainable model for the implementation of these communities in the European context and that will also serve as a tool for the transition to clean energy and the decarbonisation of our territory. To achieve this, an analysis has been conducted that includes regulatory aspects, proposals for predicting generation and demand, new energy management models, and even smart systems for detecting operational anomalies.

CITIC’s proposal aims first to model all Energy Communities (ECs) elements using historical data, user profiles, and the demand-types they must supply. The individual units will be integrated into a global model, allowing the emulation of the behaviour of the various ECs analysed. Additionally, the research team at CITIC is working to identify and analyse potential failures or anomalies in EC components to anticipate problems and make informed management decisions, ensuring optimal operation.