ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus has launched a call for proposals for European transnational projects on smart grids. As part of the call, European research consortia are invited to submit project outlines by 14:00 CET on 8 April 2015. The total available call budget is approximately EUR 40 million.
ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus is a network of Program Owners and Program Managers of national and regional funding programs in the field of research, technical development and demonstration. The core goal of the initiative is to build up a sustainable cooperation structure between national and regional Smart Grids programs in Europe as well as to enable coordination with the relevant initiatives at European Level.
The first ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus joint call is an initiative for funding programs from 20 European countries and regions, co-funded by the European Commission under its Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. It intends to promote piloting and demonstration in the field of smart grids, with a focus on validation, scale-up and replication, integrating the three research layers of stakeholder/adoption, marketplace and technology.
Beyond the funding made available for projects, the initiative will also implement advanced and innovative follow-up, monitoring and transfer activities to create an ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus Knowledge Community that contributes to the scaling-up and replication of smart grids developments at European level.
An ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus launch event is set to place in Vienna, Austria on 12-13 March 2015.