INESC TEC highlighted in the Balkans
Nuno Fidalgo, a researcher at INESC TEC’s Power Systems Unit (USE), has recently travelled to Sarajevo, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, to provide consulting services on Load Research, in cooperation with the Regulatory and Energy Assistance Project (REAP), an initiative sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The aim with this consulting contract is to help power companies and regulatory entities in the Balkan Peninsula conduct studies and develop projects for the future implementation of a liberalised energy market. Nuno Fidalgo was responsible for assessing the evolution of these projects, presenting suggestions to optimise procedures and identifying fundamental developments for the next stages.
This is not the first time INESC TEC has worked in this region. In 2008, INESC Porto (the coordinating entity of INESC TEC) started working on two power systems projects as part of the TEMPUS programme. The first project, called JADES – Joint Advanced Doctoral Degree in Energy Systems, followed a previous project, the CEFES - Cost Effective and Environmentally Friendly Energy Systems, and led to the establishment of a Master’s programme for the Universities of Tuzla (Bosnia), Novi Sad (Serbia) and St. Kiril i Methodius (Macedonia). The second project, entitled SEECEN – South East Europe Continuing Education Network, aimed at organising a training activity on power systems for technical staff of companies in this sector, as well as government and regulatory organisations.
More recently, INESC TEC signed an advanced consulting contract to directly help regulators and electric grid operators in Bosnia-Herzegovina develop consumption profiles for the operation of the electrical market, and also define methodologies that make it possible to quantify the costs associated with the different types and groups of consumers.