Bilbao hosted Europe’s largest energy event – Enlit Europe. Over three days (18-20 November), the Spanish city brought together thousands of people dedicated to research, industry, and public policies, among others, with clear goals: to connect stakeholders, inspire action, and help Europe continue to build an energy system based on decarbonisation and digitalisation. INESC TEC once again answered the call and was represented across several domains.
Eight INESC TEC members represented the Institute at Enlit Europe: João Peças Lopes, Alberto Bernardo, José Villar, Vasco Campos, Fernando Cassola, Pedro Pereira, Adriano Maior, Diogo Babo, Maria Francisca Almeida and Tomás Barosa Santos. The goal? To present new technologies, services and patents to different partners, further consolidating INESC TEC’s position as a global reference in the power & energy sector (the latest example being the participation as the only European research institution in a high-level meeting with the European Commission to shape public policies and define an AI roadmap for the energy sector).
In addition to the stand, INESC TEC researchers participated in workshops and represented the Institute in other projects; but let’s take it step by step.
New technologies, services and patents – showcasing INESC TEC’s energy research to Europe
At the INESC TEC stand, the research team had the opportunity to present the latest scientific developments in the energy field.
Seven technologies were selected for exhibition at Enlit Europe: five platforms – RECreation, MOMENTO, FlexiHome, PREDICO and soLVer – a wallbox (PlugTecAC) and a gateway (DERway).
RECreation is a management platform for renewable energy communities. MOMENTO aims to optimise short-term energy storage systems. FlexiHome is designed for managing flexibility in household electricity consumption, following MODBUS RTU, OCPP and EEBUS standards, as well as semantic interoperability based on ontologies such as SAREF. PREDICO is a marketplace platform for data monetisation and collaborative forecasting of time series. Meanwhile, soLVer offers a set of advanced features for characterising, monitoring and controlling low-voltage networks.
PlugTecAC is an AC wallbox for electric vehicles, compliant with IEC61851-1, ISO15118 and OCPP, and enabled for local computing. DERway is a device for communicating with photovoltaic inverters and batteries, translating proprietary or legacy protocols (Modbus, CAN, EEBus) and models (SunSpec) into interoperable formats (based on IEEE 2030.5 and OpenADR standards).
In terms of services, INESC TEC highlighted three: electricity market simulation (for example, for assessing investments in the energy sector, through the CEVESA software), studies and consultancy on integrating renewable generation into power grids, and advanced training in energy systems and electricity markets.
As for patents, two stood out: AC/DC H2 and sf-dsac (Symbolic Fast Dynamic Security Assessment and Control). The first concerns a synchronous and fault-tolerant control system for green hydrogen electrolysers, supporting power grid stability. The second is an interpretable, innovative AI-based solution for power system stability analysis and dynamic security assessment.
Beyond these technologies, services and patents, there was also space to present INESC TEC’s work in open-source software for energy systems and the laboratory infrastructures that support the development of these solutions – particularly the x-energy lab at INESC TEC’s headquarters, used for concept trials, testing and validating technologies for smart grids and EV charging, and the Aguçadoura offshore platform testbed for validating renewable offshore energy technologies.
Participation in workshops
José Villar, INESC TEC researcher in energy markets and energy communities with renewable integration, was a speaker in the session “Unleashing Flexibility: Buildings and Industry as Active Grid Players” at the regional workshop of the European Technology and Innovation Platform ETIP SNET.
Representation across other projects
In terms of other projects, it’s worth mentioning Fernando Cassola, researcher in human-centred computing and information science, in the European project BLUE-X, and the researchers in high-assurance software, Pedro Pereira and Adriano Maior, as well as the power & energy systems researchers Diogo Babo, Maria Francisca Almeida and Tomás Barosa Santos, who represented INESC TEC at the ATE stand.
Fernando Cassola participated at the EUSPA stand (European Union Agency for the Space Programme) representing the Blue-X project, where the preliminary results were demonstrated. One of the demonstrations was a decision-support platform for installation, maintenance, monitoring and decommissioning of offshore renewable energy projects, incorporating both a web tool and immersive XR environments with mobile and Apple Vision Pro support.
At the ATE stand, Pedro Pereira and Adriano Maior presented CLOUDIA4.eu, a platform that enables the creation, deployment and operation of cloud-based AI processing workflows. It streamlines the use of AI by organisations, simplifies decision-making cycles, and benefits from multiple interoperable data ingestion mechanisms. Key potential users include companies providing data-intensive services – especially utilities. The researchers not only introduced the platform but also demonstrated it to potential adopters.
Meanwhile, Diogo Babo, Maria Francisca Almeida and Tomás Barosa Santos also represented INESC TEC at the ATE stand, showcasing several technologies. One of them was the “tool for optimising energy management in smart buildings”, integrating forecasting of energy consumption and PV generation through an optimisation algorithm that schedules the operation of an energy storage system. The goal is to minimise energy costs while considering consumption forecasts, self-generation and market prices, all while maintaining building operation. The tool, presented by Tomás Barosa Santos, was designed to be easily scalable and deployable in any type of building.
Maria Francisca Almeida and Diogo Babo presented the solution developed for REMO (formerly Renewing – Mota Engil) as part of the ATE project. The FleetChargeXpert software is a platform designed to help companies manage electric fleets, optimise charging and coordinate energy use more efficiently, supporting a smoother and more sustainable mobility transition. The tool can optimise the operation of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and photovoltaic generation (PV), ensuring more efficient energy management. It also integrates a platform for managing charging reservations and daily scheduling.
Conclusions
According to João Peças Lopes and Alberto Bernardo, coordinator and business developer for the energy innovation area at INESC TEC, the overall balance was highly positive. Interest from current and potential new partners – particularly in the technologies – was high, particularly regarding RECreation, PlugTecAC, FlexiHome and DERway, as well as the AC/DC H2 patent.
“We also had the opportunity to identify new potential partners, not only for business but also for participation in funded projects,” they explained.
The next edition of Enlit will take place in Vienna, Austria, from 10 to 12 November 2026.
News, current topics, curiosities and so much more about INESC TEC and its community!
