The goals of the EU regarding their energy and climate policies demanded for a coordinated approach which involved all stakeholders, like energy suppliers, network operators, municipalities, industries, business and households. These stakeholders did not only differ in their preferences, individual decision makers often lacked sufficiently reliable information in advance to assess the expected benefits considering the possible costs of the decision. To enable sustainable decision support for all relevant decision makers in energy systems, instruments were needed which allowed a dynamic systems analysis, taking into account the interactions between political, technical, and economic conditions, and the behavior of individual actors.

A consortium of partners from across Europe which are all part of KIC InnoEnergy was established with the aim of combining their competencies in the area of energy systems analysis and environmental systems analysis.

The methods and tools ranged from technical to economic analysis of energy systems. The focus was in the areas of model-based simulation and optimization of energy supply strategies, efficiency potentials, user behavior, and life cycle analysis – just to name a few.

The main objective was to combine the highly specialized skills of individual partners, the large span of available approaches, and the specific knowledge about the national markets in order to enable a sustainable energy analysis and to provide consulting for relevant political and economic actors across the EU.

Making use of the experience gained in connecting the different approaches and expertise, a consulting company for energy analysis was established: Energy Systems Analysis Associates – ESA². This enterprise has three pillars:

Data Warehouse: a data pool was built-up to support energy systems analysis and consultations to be carried out on a highly professional standard. Though at the beginning the data warehouse was only for internal uses, in the medium term ESA² wanted to offer specific data for sale.

Analysis Tools contained the development of highly sophisticated new energy and environmental systems models for specific analytical applications by combining existing models and tools of the project partners. The results of these analyses were integrated into the Data Warehouse and serve as initial data for reports and information base for consulting services. A second field of activity is the development and the selling of user-friendly and simplified software for energy systems analysis.

The third pillar Consulting comprises different services related to energy and environmental issues. The focus is on clients’ advices e.g. for industries, utilities, municipalities, SMEs, etc. Reports, highlighting developments in the energy systems with general interest, are also provided.

Project website: www.esa2.eu

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