Our 3rd Consortium Meeting’s Overview

by Peter Breuhaus, Coordinator of ELEXIA

ELEXIA’s 3rd Consortium Meeting Group Photo

The 3rd Consortium Meeting of ELEXIA was held in early October 2023, twelve months after the start of the project. This time the meeting was held in Sinès (Portugal), the city hosting the harbour of Sines, one of the three project pilots. During these two days of meeting, 51 partners attended in-person and eight partners online, listening to presentations of the progress and status of the activities in the work packages, visiting the pilot site and, most importantly, work together for in total nine sessions. 

The very impressive visit to the harbour of Sines, which was organized and guided by APS, provided all partners an impression of the local conditions and challenges in addition to the visits of the Norwegian and Danish sites which were visited during the project kick-off meeting and the second in-person consortium meeting, respectively.

The importance of the project for the city of Sinès and the port was expressed by Filipa Faria, councillor of the city of Sinès and Duarte Lynce de Faria, member of the board of APS during their welcome speeches at the consortium dinner.

Especially the sessions focussing on the exchange of detailed information between the three pilots and the tools (the Digital Service Platform to manage data, and the tools for Energy Systems Management, Energy Systems Planning and Life Cycle Assessment), as well as the discussion of potential open topics and / or information gaps to close were very welcome by all partners.

In connection with informal phases during the bus transfer between Lisbon and Sinès, the breaks and the consortium dinner, these sessions contributed positive to the project team spirit and supported the importance of such an in-person meeting. The success was also supported by the presence of two members of the advisory board who actively participated in the discussions with their impressions and opinions based on their vast experiences and un-biased views from outside the nitty-gritty of the daily project work.

All participants returned home safely and most of them, I guess, with new ideas and enthusiasm for the next challenges and opportunities to continue towards successfully achieving the next project deliverables and goals.

Peter Breuhaus, Chief Scientist at NORCE

ELEXIA Project Coordinator