Reducing pollution, improving energy efficiency and the use of energy from renewable sources are the central priority in the EU agenda.

The use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and the implementation of Energy Efficiency (EE) measures in South-East Europe represent important chances to cleverly rethink the energy management.Public local administrations can play a leading role to reduce the impact on the environment and to improve the financial management within the energy field.

M2RES aims at recovering marginal areas as for example landfills, mines, former military sites/supply-storages and contaminated areas, through investments in renewable energy sources. The project is co-financed by the EU on the framework of South East Europe Programme 2007-2013. The project is co-financed by the EU on the framework of South East Europe Programme 2007-2013.

The goal is to help municipalities develop integrated waste-and-energy solutions, in order to create resource efficient urban communities.

Four European cities/regions (Barcelona, Gipuzkoa-San Sebastian, Newcastle and Reggio Emilia) have come together to demonstrate the role of ICT solutions for cities and citizens in addressing shortcomings of electro mobility. Electric power solutions have proven to offer a potentially ground-breaking solution for more energy-efficient and less petrol-dependent vehicles and transport systems. The consortium aims to integrate regional initiatives which have been established all over Europe.

The STARGRID project aims to obtain a comprehensive picture of Smart Grid standardisation procedures and to critically assess the large and complex standardisation landscape on Smart Grids at international level, including the industry new developments and initiatives in this field.

E+ aims to develop, implement and demonstrate a new energy management operation and business model based on ICTs, able to increase the energy efficiency at neighbourhood level, while achieving near zero emissions neighbourhoods. The new control system (E+) will be prepared to manage and control energy sources, stationary storage devices, street lighting, electric vehicles charging infrastructure, buildings loads, etc. Both, electrical and thermal (including geothermal) energy sources and consumption are considered in E+.

Smart metering technology has a great potential to achieve cost-efficient energy savings, and its effective use is crucial in achieving the 2016 and 2020 energy efficiency targets in Europe. Moreover, smart meters play an important role in smart grids and reaching the EU 20% renewable energy source target by 2020.

DOLFIN addresses the demand/response and energy stabilisation scenario of the Smart Grid by optimising the energy consumption of Data Centres (DC), accompanied, if necessary, with a respective negotiation and readjustment of the DC's Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

SINGULAR investigates the effects of large-scale integration of renewables and demand-side management on the planning and operation of insular electricity grids, proposing efficient measures, solutions and tools towards the development of a sustainable and smart grid. Different network operation procedures and tools, based on innovative approaches of predictive electricity network operation, will be developed.