On September 29th, 2022, the IMDEA Energy Institute organized Workshop “Urban grids and microgrids” within the framework of Promint-CM R&D project. Outstanding speakers from both academic and business backgrounds, representing the entire value chain of electricity networks, took part: Francisco Javier Rodríguez (Alcalá de Henares University), Jesús Varela (i-DE Iberdrola Group), José Conrado Martínez (ADIF), Enrique Doheijo and Fernando Garay (Deloitte Spain), Miguel Ochoa (Huawei), Enrique Serrano (B5tec) and Milan Prodanovic, Head of the Electrical Systems Unit (IMDEA Energy).

During the event, the main challenges of the development of urban electricity networks were discussed like urban and rail transport decarbonization, opportunities provided by the integration of renewables to the energy markets and development of technical solutions (electronic power converters, storage systems and management algorithms). The questions raised by the attendees and the debate they provoked made it clear that technologies for urban grids and microgrids are indeed of interest for specialists and general public and represent objectives for further research and development projects.

More than fifty attendees had the opportunity to see a pilot plant demonstration of algorithms for control of electricity networks in real time.