Overpassing barriers

Challenge: The Innosuisse SCCER program is closing its cycle at the end of 2020. The added value of coordinated research activities for the achievement of the Swiss Energy Strategy 2050 and Paris agreement national committments is now undeniable as illustrated by independent evaluation of the program. Still, according to the SFOE Monitoring report for the timely achievement of the energy and climate targets, such efforts should be even intensified. While the national funding agencies are preparing the following-up programmes that can support such efforts, such as SFOE-SWEET and Innosuisse-Flagship, SCCERs should valorise the plethora of their outcomes and properly disseminate them to decision makers. Therefore, appropriate dissemination activities should be put in place targeting (i) implementation partners and (ii) policy makers.

SCCER-FURIES is working to this direction. For the former category, it has recently released the White paper on DC technologies for Swiss power transmission and distribution; and the Activity report presenting the highlights of FURIES in layman’s language. These activities are in addition to the already established Knowledge hub which bridges capabilities, projects and outcomes of the center; and all of them contribute to the knowledge and technology transfer mainly to the industry.

Aim: Another White paper is under development on the Regulatory barriers for the implementation of the smart grid solutions in Switzerland targeting the latter category. The associated Task force is established with the aim to provide policymakers with recommendations on the regulatory adjustments required for the timely and efficient achievement of the Suisse Energy strategy.

Process and Members: This task force primarily consists of the industrial partners of SCCER-FURIES but also other concerned SCCER such as CREST. The academic community seconds this group by providing scientific evidences on the advantages of these barriers’ (conditional) elimination. It remains though inclusive to other participants from inside or outside FURIES that face regulatory barriers in their activities; are interested in providing their inputs related to the aim of this group.

Participation: The SCCER-FURIES Management office remains available for any information request on SCCER-FURIES’ research and consolidation activities and achievements.