Research Project LEAP-RE

The LEAP-RE project, co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, seeks to establish a long-term partnership between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) in the field of renewable energy, and will last for five years from 2020 to 2025. It connects 83 partners from 33 countries across both continents.

Directly pursuing Goal 7: Renewable and Clean Energy from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, LEAP-RE will establish and jointly implement research, innovation, and capacity-building activities between the two Unions. The Sustainable Energy for All initiative, together with the World Bank and the International Energy Agency (IEA), are also redesigning the framework of access to better highlight the link between energy, services, and local development.

In the EU, the EU Green Deal supports a new growth strategy, reinforcing Europe’s commitment to developing and improving renewable energies. Meanwhile, the AU’s strategies highlight renewable energy as a critical area for ensuring the sustainable development of the continent. It is at the core of the AU’s Agenda 2063, where renewable energy is one of the priority areas for achieving the Agenda’s first aspiration: “A prosperous Africa, based on Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development”, and specifically goal 7: “Environmentally sustainable and climate resilient economies and communities”.

LEAP-RE is based on a 3 pillars model:

• Pillar 1: External research funding and capacity building activities
• Pillar 2: Internal consortium research and innovation projects and capacity building activities
• Pillar 3: Management, coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and development of the future long-term partnership

INEA participates in Work Package 15 – EURICA project which is one of the key projects of the Pillar 2 and involves 5 other partners of the LEAP-RE program:

• Odit-e, a French SME based in Meylan,
• Nanoé, a French/Malagasy SME,
• Institut Supérieur Dale Kietzman based in Douala, Cameroun,
• La Société nationale d’électricité du Burkina Faso, SONABEL,
• Next Energy Consumer, a policy consultancy based in Turin, Italy.

INEA’s use cases are centered on a demonstration site of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The “top-down approach” will focus on an optimization solution using flexibility management for the existing urban low voltage network. This solution is based on smart meters and the Internet of things (IoT), around the idea to enable physical devices to “communicate” with each other in sense of becoming flexible devices. The communication of technologies between the various devices will allow a distribution of the power that the grid can actually provide through the day and between consumers to their needs and means.

Read more about the project at leap-re.eu and follow the project LinkedIn page for news and updates.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 963530.