Optimising agricultural and forest residues and waste management to increase renewable energy incorporation and reduce the carbon footprint of agricultural and forestry systems is currently essential and goes hand in hand with improving the resilience and sustainability of remote regions. The PYRAGRAF project will develop a mobile and integrated unit to demonstrate the pyrolytic conversion of forestry and agriculture crops residues and wastes into added-value products. The concept for this mobile demonstration system at TRL 7 is composed of 3 main modules: 1) a solar-assisted gasifier burner, 2) a biomass dryer, and 3) an integrated pyrolysis reactor thus producing sustainable products using renewable sources (solar energy and biomass). This multi-product approach includes two main product categories - biochar and wood vinegar ecosystems services; and energy applications of upgraded pyrogas and bio-oil – that can be integrated with different agriculture applications, thus enabling to reduce GHG emissions and the use of fossil resources and in agricultural practices; improve the development of rural areas, among other benefits. Field demonstrations with the involvement of local stakeholders inside and outside of the project will be conducted in 3 countries (PT, DE and TR) to demonstrate the operation of the mobile pyrolysis unit and evaluate the fertilisation and biopesticide potential of biochars and wood vinegar in different soils/crops and climate conditions. The pyrogas and bio-oil will also be evaluated as energy carriers for dual-fuel engine sand fuel cells as biofuel to be used in local agriculture or forestry practices. Because of its potential impact, the project will work towards reaching the outcomes of the work programme and lead to relevant changes in practice via three well-defined impact pathways that will ultimately contribute to producing low-carbon products that fit the ambitious requirements of the policies and strategies defined by the EU.

Smart grid is a dynamically interactive real-time infrastructure concept that encompasses the many visions of diverse energy system stakeholders. The Smart Grid is integrating the electrical and information technologies in between any point of generation and any point of consumption. The main objective of the project is to fully analyze all aspects of smart grids targeting in the improvement of reliability, mitigation of security risks, increase load shaping and energy efficiency, optimal integration and generation-consumption matching as well as smart monitoring and control. To this end, the aim of the SMART GEMS project is to use Smart Grids’ optimization and reliable operation concept as the common basis for collaboration and staff exchange among the partners. The overall effort will be based in two existing smart grid infrastructures owned by TUC and AEA and is designed to exploit the complementary expertise of the participants as well as enhance and create more synergies. Moreover the infrastructure of all partners will be available for the project’s goals. In this framework, SMART-GEMS partners are selected to formulate a complementary group which encompasses all the major aspects of smart grids. During the SMART GEMS secondments, a mixture of research and training will be blended in a suitable proportion as to maximize the career perspectives of the researchers involved focusing on innovation skills related to smart grids and smart communities interdisciplinary aspects. The methodological approach is designed to enhance the researchers’ competitiveness and promote the ideas sharing from research to market and vice versa. The methodology is based on a cycle expansion in three dimensions where all participants are actively involved