SCIENTISTS AND INDUSTRY EXPERTS JOIN FORCES TO IMPROVE USE OF SEASONAL CLIMATE FORECASTS IN NINE ENERGY AND WATER CASES

Norwich, UK. 12/03/18 

Organisations from across Europe are analysing nine case studies to demonstrate if seasonal climate forecasts can help the energy and water sectors make more accurate practical decisions and contribute to cleaner and more cost-effective energy systems.

Partners in this EU funded project include The University of East Anglia (Project Lead. UK), Enel Trade S.p.A (Italy), ENEA (Italy), Met Office (UK), AWS Truepower (Spain), Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut – KNMI (Netherlands), The World Energy and Meteorology Council – WEMC (UK), EURAC (Italy), and Alperia S.p.A. (Italy).
These partners and industry co-designers will come together to create and analyse nine case studies, investigating how seasonal forecasts could help energy and water system performance using climate science models. The case studies include heatwaves, dry winter, low winds, and dry spring/summer.

Project Lead, Prof Alberto Troccoli (UEA) says: “We are looking for quantification of the value-adding of seasonal climate forecast to decision-making. A range of case studies will be investigated with industry partners and co-designers to evaluate the benefits of the optimised seasonal products. The project will also develop and customise a ‘toolbox’ of tailor-made techniques and visual aids to better inform different sectors, starting with energy and water.

Mr Claudio Baldini, Head of Risk Management at Enel, the national energy provider of Italy, and a key industrial partner in the project, says: “Enel’s aspiration is to cooperate with primary weather focused research institutions at international level with the aim of integrating weather competencies with Enel’s expertise in energy risk management, marking an important development toward efficient weather risk management activity, which has become one of Enel’s main goal.

“Enel’s participation in the project testifies the intense work that the company is carrying out in order to better manage its capabilities to optimise Enel’s industrial and commercial portfolio facing the randomness of climatic events.”

The project, which has been given the name The Added Value of Seasonal Climate Forecasts for Integrated Risk Management Decisions (SECLI-FIRM) will assess the impact on operational planning and portfolio management, such as hedging and asset optimisation, thus enabling quantification of the value-add provided by seasonal forecasts which have been calibrated, evaluated and tailored for each specific application.

“Improvements in management decisions will ultimately lead to an improved supply-demand balance and therefore to a more efficient energy system, particularly with respect to renewable energy, all of which has corresponding benefits for climate change mitigation.” Prof. Troccoli added.

Any organisation or company interested in the output from this project is welcome to contact:
WEMC info@wemcouncil.org, call +44(0)20 3286 3250 or visit www.secli-firm.eu