José Oliveira, Eneida.IO

Name: José Oliveira
Name of the Company: Eneida.IO
Business Area: Low-voltage Networks
Position in the Company: VP of Product
INESC TEC Centre with which collaborated: Centre for Power and Energy Systems (CPES)
Project managers (INESC TEC): André Madureira, Ricardo Bessa and Clara Gouveia
Title of the projects: Grid2C and NextSTEP

What is your professional background with INESC TEC? 

Eneida and INESC TEC began collaborating in the NextSTEP, a national project developed within the scope of the P2020 programme. Thanks to that partnership, we had the opportunity to launch a new national project – Grid2C – also within the scope of the P2020 programme, led by Eneida.

Briefly describe the main goals of the project you are carrying out in collaboration with INESC TEC, as well as the expected results.

The Grid2C project focuses on addressing the constraints in the low-voltage network, as well as predicting future constraints, due to the entry of new agents on the network, e.g., electric vehicle chargers and inverters associated with PV panels. With this project, we aim to estimate the voltage unbalance and active energy losses along the circuits, while determining the available circuits for the new connections of said new agents.

How has ENEIDA.IO benefited from INESC TEC’s Laboratory of Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles, namely concerning the development of your business?

The Laboratory played a key role in two aspects of the project’s execution. In the first phase, it helped us understanding the typical behaviour of each consumer or producer. Secondly, the Laboratory has been crucial to the creation of data sets under specific conditions of use, allowing us to develop the methods for each feature, which will later be part of Eneida’s portfolio.

What is your opinion on your experience working with INESC TEC?

Eneida’s partnership with INESC TEC has been very beneficial. Throughout the project, INESC TEC has been quite expedient in analysing our value propositions, discussing the behaviour of the electrical network in each context and collaborating in the development of the solutions.

What is the possibility of future collaborations with INESC TEC?

Eneida’s mission is to create zero emission neighbourhoods; in this sense, it is necessary to know and predict system behaviours, namely those with great inherent uncertainty. We are quite determined to achieve our goal – and we’re counting on INESC TEC as a key partner in this endeavour.