The project TwInSolar addresses massive integration of solar energy production in insular territories.
Thereto, it aims at strengthening the research and innovation capacities of the University of La Reunion that belongs to the outermost region (OR) of Europe
in order to create new opportunities inside and outside of Europe and more specifically in the zone surrounding La Reunion. This capacity building will be done through the establishment of effective partnerships with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer-ISE), which are internationally renowned research organizations, and with the support of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR).
TwInSolar aims to address two general objectives
- Objective 1: to become a reference Research&Innovation actor in the field of energy for isolated areas, creating new opportunities inside and outside of Europe.
- To establish effective partnerships with internationally renowned research organisations in order to bridge the research gaps regarding solar energy integration, and to intensify networking capacities;
- To better target UR external communication and improve UR reputation at the regional scale (Indian ocean zone: South Asia, Eastern Africa, Mascareignes) and at the international level (Remote areas of Europe).
- Objective 2: To accelerate the energy transition of La Reunion by strengthening the research and innovation capacities of UR and La Reunion, through the establishment of effective partnerships.
- To strengthen UR’s project management and administrative capacity to participate in and lead major research projects in the future;
- To improve the training of PhD students and post-docs, and to strengthen the skills of the permanent researchers;
- To design and test innovative solutions based on solar renewables, converters/exchangers, storage and smart management of energy systems, which will accelerate the energy transition in remote areas.
Fraunhofer ISE will contribute to integrate PV power on La Reunion by adapting algorithms to predict solar irradiance for tropical climate in close cooperation with the University Of La Reunion. Especially, all sky imagers for high resolution cloud forecasting will be installed at the Campus of the University and satellite-based forecasts will be provided.