CRETE VALLEY took part in the EU Projects Round Table at IEEE PES ISGT Europe 2026, held in Budapest. Elissaios Sarmas, Project Manager of CRETE VALLEY, represented the project alongside other Horizon Europe initiatives working on the future of Europe’s electricity grids.
This year’s conference theme, “From Flexibility to Autonomy”, is closely aligned with the question CRETE VALLEY is addressing in Crete: how a local energy system can run on renewables, remain stable and give communities a real role in how it operates.
During the round table, Elissaios Sarmas set out the grid dimension of CRETE VALLEY through three main contributions.
From data to decisions. Europe’s energy system is moving towards digital twins. Through TWIN-REV, CRETE VALLEY applies this approach at valley level. TWIN-REV is a system-of-systems digital twin that supports grid planning and operation for transmission system operators (TSOs), distribution system operators (DSOs) and energy communities.
Data space as grid infrastructure. Flexibility depends on the grid being able to see and trust the data behind it. CRETE VALLEY’s backbone, built on Energy Data Space principles, enables interoperable and secure data exchange from individual consumers up to valley-level operation, in line with the vision of the Common European Energy Data Space (CEEDS).
People in the loop. Citizen co-design and activation initiatives aim to make local communities active participants in the energy transition rather than passive end users.
These elements are being tested across four Community Energy Labs on the island, which together form a real-world testbed for decentralised, renewable-based grids.
The round table also allowed CRETE VALLEY to exchange with fellow Horizon Europe projects PVSmile, CABLEGNOSIS, NOMAD, TwinEU, INNO4GRID and INTELLIGENT. Each addresses a different aspect of the same challenge, from flexibility and digitalisation to grid operation. Connecting these results is essential if Europe is to move from isolated pilots to a grid that is smarter, more flexible and more autonomous.
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Picture curtesy of NTUA
