An overview of our 2nd consortium Meeting in Copenhagen by our coordinator, Peter Breuhaus

After the first six months of the project, we had our 2nd Consortium Meeting which was held in Copenhagen at 13th & 14th of March. We had 2 intensive days with 39 participants who attended in person and additional 19 attending virtually.

The ELEXIA project works on energy system integration, across various disciplines, businesses, and sectors. Working on a project on energy system integration we clearly see that physical meetings contribute to establish a common language and understanding – understanding for sometimes different ways of thinking and working. As we work across various disciplines, businesses, and sectors.

This was one of the major learnings already in a very early phase when it turned out, for example the term “digital twin” was connected to quite different assumption what a digital twin would represent at the end of the project. The meeting we had and the discussion we had clearly contributed to the better understanding of each other and even closer cooperation than was already achieved during the first six months of the project.   

While the first day of the Consortium Meeting in Copenhagen was covered with presentations on the status of the work packages, as well as the visit of the pilot site, the second day was characterised by working in groups and on the pilot cases.

The visit at the pilot site covered the impressive large scale heat storage system of VEKS, which will be officially announced in April 2023, and is connected to the heat transmission system close to the municipality of Høje Taastrup. We afterwards visited the municipality’s  new town hall which from its roof also provides and overview over the municipality as well as the local energy generation units relevant for the project.

The presentations and the working groups on the second day were characterized by lively discussions and contributions from all participants. The present members of the advisory board contributed with comments and questions based on their vast experience and providing additional input into our ongoing project work.

It was a great meeting which, in this still early phase of the project contributed to further improve the already good cooperation between the partners, further foster the understanding across the different disciplines in the project. This was supported by mingling and chats during the breaks and the informal parts of the meeting.

I also would like to thank everybody for the contribution with a special thanks to DTU, VEKS and Høje Taastrup for their hospitality and very well organized two days.

 Peter Breuhaus, NORCE

ELEXIA Coordinator