Brussels, February 28th - Ireland’s energy minister Denis Naughten, Seán Kelly MEP and senior representatives from DG Energy, EDF and EirGrid will join EU-Sysflex on Monday for the Brussels launch of the EU-funded consortium.

The event takes place on Monday, March 5th at 18:00 in the European Parliament in Brussels and will include a discussion on the key challenges facing EU-Sysflex over the coming years.

Established in 2017, EU-SysFlex is a consortium of European energy companies, led by Ireland’s electricity grid operator EirGrid. It has been awarded over €20 million by the EU to fund research into the deployment of renewable energy.

Its aim is to identify issues associated with integrating large amounts of renewable energy; provide practical assistance to power system operators across Europe; and create a long-term roadmap to facilitate the large-scale integration of renewable energy.

The European Union has set out ambitious plans for greener and a more decarbonised Europe by increasing the levels of renewable energy.

The project involves 34 organisations from 15 countries across Europe and has an overall budget of €26 million. It will run until 2021.

It receives funding under Horizon 2020, the EU’s €80 billion research and innovation programme. EirGrid is the overall project co-ordinator, while French electricity group EDF acts as technical co-ordinator.

The event will be moderated by EU-SysFlex project partner Euractiv. Vera Paiva Da Silva, Program Director, Electricity Systems and Markets, will represent EDF. Robin McCormick, SONI general manager and Director of Operations, Planning and Innovation, will represent EirGrid Group.