About the Project
PROMISE
PROMISE is a 3 year research and innovation project funded by the European Commission through a Twinning action (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03), as part of the Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence objective under Horizon Europe.
Malta has the highest solar irradiance of all EU Member States, with 1,829kWh/sqm per year; but only 9.6% of its electricity is supplied by PV power. PROMISE aims to sustain the scientific, engineering and research performance and innovation capacity of the Maltese Research Community on solar photovoltaics to prepare for the potential penetration increase of PV in Malta and to support the energy transition. The project is organised around:
A research framework featuring a Malta-based platform to study of existing and emerging PV modules and systems, including digitalisation aspects for prediction and optimisation algorithms.
A knowledge gain and transfer framework including capacity building activities, workshops, schools, training programmes, internships, mentoring, etc.
Objectives
- Transfer knowledge to Maltese early career researchers.
- Build up research capacity focusing on gender balance.
- Improve research quality in PV operations and reliability, preparing for high PV penetration in Malta.
- Engage with a larger research community in Malta through the exploratory research programme.
- Raise awareness, promotion, and dissemination of results.
Consortium Members
Coordinator
Foundation for Innovation and Research - MALTA
Independent, voluntary, non-profit and public purpose foundation. FiR is a research and knowledge dissemination organisation as well as a Research and Technology Organisation (RTO). It is strongly committed to promote the advancement of innovation and research for humanity throughout the Mediterranean, highlighting the role of Malta as a hub of knowledge between EU and the region, to support the ongoing Maltese economy expansion into an innovation-led economy. The Foundation is the home to Maltese based innovators and researchers, with already a pool of personnel engaged and dedicated to innovation and research, acting as a vehicle to their success and Maltese R&I index. The current research, technology and dissemination non-economic activities are related to renewable energy, electric mobility, vision techniques and technology transfer and has established network of experienced experts, active public and private entities in the field throughout the country and beyond.
Consortium Members
Project Partners
Austrian Institute of Technology
Austria’s largest non-university research institute. With its seven centers, AIT regards itself as a highly specialised research and development partner for industry. As a national and international hub at the interface between science and industry, AIT makes innovation possible thanks to its scientific and technological expertise, experience in the markets, close customer ties and an outstanding research infrastructure. The Center for Energy's topic portfolio is oriented towards three central systems: Sustainable energy infrastructure, decarbonisation of industrial processes and plants, and innovative technologies and solutions for urban transformation (buildings, cities). The Energy Conversion and Hydrogen team offers scientific support in R&D, as well as certified standard testing and modelling to PV and PV-related manufacturers. Since 2003, the Center for Energy operates a fully fledged accredited Photovoltaic Module Test Laboratory. A major research focus is also on digitalization as well as power forecasting and automated failure detection, ageing and long time energy production forecast. Within the Project the team will contribute and exchange their extensive knowledge in the field of photovoltaics technologies and technology deployment, particularly with respect to device degradation (measurement precision and traceability, focus to new technologies), operational plant planning, and impact assessment via simulation and digitalisation.
Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
CEA department of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur (DPACA) has a solar platform, located in the research centre of CEA Cadarache, which exists since the seventies. The platform is composed of a part dedicated to solar thermal energy and a part to photovoltaics. The research of CEA-DPACA is performed in collaboration with the National Institute of Solar Energy (INES) based in Chambery. CEA has been performing outdoor monitoring of PV modules and systems since 1981 and indoor characterisation of modules since 2006. The platform has enabled to conduct, in a secure outdoor environment, R&D activities such as: Developing innovative methods for monitoring and evaluating the performance of photovoltaic technologies, from a single module to a whole PV system (module, inverter, chassis, acquisition and control chain, software etc.). Creating a database of solar resource data and of module performance measurements over dozen of years. Gaining experience in the integrationand optimization of photovoltaic systems. The Department of CEA-DPACA involve technical people to operate the installation of solar energy. The Utility Scale Solar Plants and Storage Systems team manage the PV solar infrastructure. Data analysis and more fundamental research are performed in collaboration with INES. Two teams of CEA-DPACA will be involved in PROMISE: Utility Scale Solar Plants and Storage Systems, Outdoor Platform for the Long-term Testing of New Technologies.
CENER, NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY CENTRE OF SPAIN
CENER is a member of the Executive Committee of the IEA PVPS representing Spain, as well as a member of the National SC82 subcommittee (part of the IEC) for the standardization of aspects related to PV device, member of the EERA-PV, FOTOPLAT (Spanish Photovoltaic Solar Energy Platform) and Member of the Scientific Committee of the EU-PVSEC. CENER is equipped with infrastructures and laboratories to support the research and testing activities covering the areas of knowledge involved in the PROMISE project. CENER is also a Testing Laboratory (TL) for PV modules within CBTL (Certification Body Testing Laboratory) scheme of IECEE, with AENOR as Certification Body. PV inverters and trackers can also be tested in the laboratory. CENER has also the possibility of testing PV modules in outdoor conditions in different locations (Navarra and Almeria) depending upon the required radiation and climate conditions. The Experimental Photovoltaic Field includes several solar trackers with different configurations, and several fixed structures for the installation of PV modules. Its objective is the study of the behaviour under real operating conditions of all the components that may be included in a PV installation (modules, trackers, inverters, cleaning systems...). All the monitored data is compiled, therefore different algorithms (e.g. machine learning algorithms) can be developed and tested to predict the future energy production. On-going Research programme PV research is conducted within the context of international collaborations with a total of three projects H2020 (OPENLAB, VIPERLAB, and JUMP2EXCEL) currently under execution. Moreover, CENER participates in some projects within the regional and national level. In these projects, several ideas related to different topics, like perovskite technology improvement, BIPV modules, early failure detection in PV plants, surface treatments for increasing module production..., are being developed in order to generate basic and applied knowledge and position CENER as a reference in these topics.
Hochschule Anhalt University of Applied Sciences
HSA has a particular focus on combining science and innovation and, in 2018, was selected as one of Germany´s Innovative Universities by the Germany Federal Ministry of Education and Research.The Project PROMISE will be conducted at the campus Köthen with its two departments i) Computer Science, ii) Electrical, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. With the Doctorate Center IWIT (engineering science and information technology) the university has the right to award doctorates. Currently, about 70 PhD students at HSA work in national and international research projects together with partner institutions worldwide. HSA offers a unique 3-semesters Master in Photovoltaic Engineering Science. This Master Program on Photovoltaic Engineering Science HSA Infrastructure Fully instrumented PV-system equipment with different technologies, outdoor measurement test facility for different applications such as BiPV, bifi and agriPV systems, indoor performance laboratory for emerging technologies such as bifacial modules including a class AAA double side LED sun simulator. There is ongoing training at PhD level on national level at the HSA, such as Doctoral scholarships based on the Graduate Funding Act of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, industry partner grants, and cooperative national and international University’s. The Graduate academy is the central service unit for all doctoral students and postdocs at the HSA. HSA Previous Involvement in Research and Training Programmes Prof. Gottschalg and Prof. Meza had led several projects with national funding including the supervision of PhD students. Moreover, HSA has been involved in several national research programmes. Our successful application and transfer-oriented research projects extend across the whole of Central Germany - and beyond. Thanks to our close contacts with numerous small and medium-sized companies, many of our research findings and results can be directly implemented in practice. Contribution to IEC standard and International Energy Agency’s technology collaboration programme on photovoltaics.
Becquerel Institute
The Becquerel Institute was founded in 2014, it combines the strength of a consultancy company with a dedicated research activity focusing on the ecosystem of solar photovoltaics. Its expertise is three-fold: applied research, strategic consultancy, and technical assistance. In the PROMISE project, the Becquerel Institute is leading the communication, dissemination and exploitation work. The combination of the Becquerel's ties to national PV associations in various EU countries, APVIA in Asia, Solar Power Europe, Solar United, the European Solar Manufacturing Council ESMC and the ETIP-PV; its participation in various EU-funded projects; and its knowledge of the PV market and applications sector streghten the competences of this project.
PIXAM
Spinoff company that arose from a successful research project of the same name. PIXAM's goal is to improve on previous results, develop new products based on research findings, and investigate new computational vision techniques. PIXAM LTD is quickly establishing itself in the local market and has already obtained contracts to deliver custom-made systems to local government agencies such as Identity Malta and the Malta Film Commission. Pixam LTD is also the main technological contributor to two main research projects, PIXBRUSH and MAARES. In pixbrush PIXAM LTD is building new vision products which could be used with aerial drones and unmanned ground vehicles, while in the MAARESS project, PIXAM LTD is building software and computer vision tools for measuring Posidonia meadows.
