{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "title": "Lampros Konstantellos — News", "home_page_url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news", "feed_url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/feed.json", "description": "Exploring renewable energy, battery storage, grid flexibility, and electricity markets through engineering, modelling, and applied research.", "language": "en", "authors": [ { "name": "Lampros Konstantellos", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com" } ], "items": [ { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/intersolar-europe-2026", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/intersolar-europe-2026", "title": "Reflections from Intersolar Europe 2026 and The smarter E Europe", "content_text": "From 23–25 June 2026, I attended **Intersolar Europe** and the wider **The smarter E Europe** in Munich, the umbrella event that brings together four co-located exhibitions: **Intersolar Europe** for solar, **ees Europe** for energy storage, **Power2Drive Europe** for charging infrastructure and e-mobility, and **EM-Power Europe** for energy management. According to the organisers, the event gathered around 105,000 trade visitors from 163 countries and 2,650 exhibitors from 52 countries, under the theme \"Renewables 24/7: Secure Energy for a Changing World\".\n\nWhat stood out to me most is that the industry has moved its centre of gravity. A few years ago, the defining question was how much photovoltaic capacity could be added. In Munich, the defining question was different: how to integrate, dispatch, and extract value from that capacity once it is on the system. The four exhibitions were no longer four separate worlds, but one system of generation, storage, charging, and software.\n\n**Key points I took from Munich:**\n\n• **Battery storage has shifted from backup to a revenue-generating asset class.** The discussion focused on revenue stacking across energy arbitrage, ancillary services, and capacity, and on the dispatch strategy and forecasting quality that determine whether a project actually performs.\n\n• **Hybrid PV plus storage is becoming the default plant architecture.** Co-locating batteries with PV was presented less as an option and more as a precondition for long-term project viability and stable revenues in increasingly volatile markets.\n\n• **Grid-forming inverters moved firmly into the mainstream.** Beyond simple power conversion, inverters are now expected to provide system inertia, voltage and frequency support, and black-start capability, helping to maintain grid stability as conventional generation retires.\n\n• **Software and energy management are where differentiation is moving.** Energy management systems, AI-based forecasting, optimisation engines, and virtual power plants were central across the halls, as hardware faces growing price pressure and the operating intelligence becomes the real differentiator.\n\n• **Charging is becoming bidirectional and grid-interactive.** The focus at Power2Drive was on bidirectional, megawatt, and smart charging, with electric vehicles increasingly treated as flexible energy assets rather than passive loads.\n\n• **Curtailment and negative prices are now a structural, pan-European issue.** Once associated mainly with a few markets, curtailment and zero or negative wholesale prices have become a shared European concern, reframing storage and flexibility as the response, rather than larger inverters or more capacity.\n\nFor Greece, these themes are immediate rather than distant. Curtailment of renewable generation reached **1,867 GWh in 2025**, equivalent to 6.6% of total renewable generation and more than double the level of 2024, with research pointing to a further increase toward 3.3 to 3.7 TWh in 2026. Midday wholesale prices regularly fall to zero or below. This is precisely the environment in which the combination of PV, storage, and intelligent energy management creates value, by shifting production, increasing self-consumption, and converting an otherwise curtailed surplus into a dispatchable resource. With a **4.7 GW utility-scale storage programme** underway and the net-billing framework shaping prosumer investments, the Greek market sits exactly at the intersection that Munich was built around, provided that grid connection can keep pace.\n\nMy main takeaway is that the value of a renewable project is no longer defined only by how much it can generate, but by how intelligently it can be operated within a constrained and increasingly dynamic power system. The most interesting projects I saw in Munich were not the largest, but the best integrated.", "summary": "Notes from Munich on battery storage as a revenue asset, hybrid PV plus storage, grid-forming inverters, energy management software, bidirectional charging, and what structural curtailment means for Greece.", "date_published": "2026-06-25T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/intersolar-europe-2026/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "Intersolar Europe", "The smarter E Europe", "battery storage", "hybrid PV", "grid-forming inverters", "energy management", "curtailment", "Greece" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/7th-power-gas-forum-athens", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/7th-power-gas-forum-athens", "title": "Insights from the 7th Power & Gas Forum in Athens", "content_text": "On 6–7 April 2026, I attended the **7th Power & Gas Forum** in Athens, organised by **energypress**. The forum focused on the changing structure of the Greek electricity and gas markets, including grid development, system adequacy, flexibility, storage, gas infrastructure, retail market evolution, and the growing impact of large electricity consumers such as data centers.\n\nWhat stood out to me most is that the Greek energy transition is moving from a capacity-growth discussion to an implementation-quality discussion. The key question is no longer only how much renewable capacity can be added, but whether the system can absorb, dispatch, balance, and value this capacity efficiently.\n\n**Key points I took from the forum:**\n\n• **Grid capacity is becoming the central constraint.** Renewable deployment, electrification, storage, and new demand from data centers all depend on how quickly transmission and distribution infrastructure can be reinforced, digitalised, and operated with greater visibility.\n\n• **Curtailment is becoming structural.** As RES penetration increases, curtailment can no longer be treated as an occasional operational issue. It is becoming a signal that flexibility, storage, forecasting, and market design need to evolve together.\n\n• **Battery storage is shifting from policy topic to operational asset class.** The value of BESS will depend not only on installed capacity, but on dispatch strategy, multi-market participation, forecasting quality, and the ability to manage revenue uncertainty.\n\n• **Data and metering infrastructure are becoming market enablers.** Smart meters, real-time data, and advanced energy management tools are essential for unlocking demand response, dynamic retail products, and more efficient system operation.\n\n• **Gas remains part of the transition discussion.** Even as renewables and storage expand, gas infrastructure continues to play a role in security of supply, adequacy, and system flexibility during the transition period.\n\nMy main takeaway is that Greece is entering a more mature and technically demanding phase of the energy transition. The challenge is no longer only project development, but the coordinated operation of networks, markets, storage assets, flexible demand, and real-time data systems.", "summary": "Reflections on grid constraints, flexibility, storage, data infrastructure, and the increasingly operational nature of the Greek energy transition.", "date_published": "2026-04-07T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/7th-power-gas-forum-athens/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "Greek electricity market", "Power & Gas Forum", "grid flexibility", "battery storage", "curtailment", "data centers", "energy transition" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/renewable-energytech-expo-thessaloniki", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/renewable-energytech-expo-thessaloniki", "title": "Reflections from Renewable EnergyTech in Thessaloniki", "content_text": "On **26–28 March 2026**, I attended **Renewable EnergyTech** in Thessaloniki, the green and smart energy exhibition held at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre alongside **Forward Green Expo**. It was a packed schedule of meetings and conversations across **RES, BESS, and offshore wind**.\n\nWhat stood out to me most is how far storage has moved in the conversation. It is no longer treated as an afterthought to renewable generation, but as a central part of how projects and portfolios are now designed.\n\n**Key points I took from the event:**\n\n• **Curtailment is shaping project decisions.** As renewable penetration rises, curtailment is no longer a marginal operational issue; it is becoming a primary input into how new capacity is planned and valued.\n\n• **Storage delays are a recurring constraint.** The gap between storage that is planned and storage that is actually connected and operational came up repeatedly, with direct consequences for project economics.\n\n• **Flexible portfolios are becoming the norm.** Combining generation, storage, and flexible offtake into a single portfolio is increasingly how developers manage volatile prices and constrained grids.\n\n• **Self-consumption is reshaping how businesses think about energy costs.** For commercial and industrial consumers, maximising self-consumption is shifting from a sustainability gesture to a core part of the cost calculation.\n\n• **Offshore wind is entering the Greek conversation.** Alongside the established RES and storage topics, offshore wind featured as a longer-horizon part of the portfolio discussion.\n\nBeyond the meetings, I also had a conversation with **Enri Skourti** and the **ZEPHIROS** team about a question that comes up often: what does a young engineer actually gain from being present at events like this? Engineering school gives you the fundamentals, but the market is where you develop them. Standards and business models move faster than any curriculum, and being in the room with the people building projects is how you build the reflexes to keep up.\n\nThis is a theme I have come back to since my student years. As **Chairperson of EESTEC LC Patras**, I argued in an earlier interview that the soft skills built outside the curriculum, communication, teamwork, adaptability, are often what employers value most. A few years and one career step later, on the exhibition floor rather than in a lecture hall, the same idea held up.\n\nMy main takeaway is that the sector is at a turning point where the technical questions, around curtailment, storage, and flexibility, increasingly demand **adaptability and collaboration** rather than capacity alone. That is also exactly the environment in which time spent in the market, early, pays off for a young engineer.", "summary": "Notes from Renewable EnergyTech in Thessaloniki on curtailment, storage delays, flexible portfolios, and self-consumption, and a conversation on what young engineers gain from the market itself.", "date_published": "2026-03-28T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/renewable-energytech-expo-thessaloniki/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "Renewable EnergyTech", "Thessaloniki", "BESS", "curtailment", "self-consumption", "offshore wind", "young engineers", "EESTEC" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/7th-renewable-storage-forum", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/7th-renewable-storage-forum", "title": "Reflections from the 7th Renewable & Storage Forum", "content_text": "On 22–23 October 2025, I attended the **7th Renewable & Storage Forum** in Athens, organised by **energypress**. The forum focused on the next stage of the Greek energy transition, with particular emphasis on renewable energy development, storage deployment, grid constraints, curtailment, auctions, investment conditions, and the regulatory framework for new market participants.\n\nThe discussion made clear that storage is no longer treated as a future add-on to the power system. It is becoming one of the key tools for managing high renewable penetration, reducing curtailment, supporting system flexibility, and improving the economic performance of renewable assets.\n\n**Key points I took from the forum:**\n\n• **Stand-alone BESS is becoming a central part of the Greek energy mix.** As projects move from auction results to implementation, the focus is shifting toward connection conditions, dispatch strategy, market access, and long-term revenue visibility.\n\n• **Behind-the-meter storage is becoming increasingly relevant for existing PV parks.** For assets facing curtailment, negative prices, or constrained export capacity, co-located BESS can improve operational flexibility and help recover otherwise lost value.\n\n• **Curtailment is changing the economics of renewable projects.** The value of a RES asset can no longer be assessed only through annual production. Timing, grid availability, market prices, and flexibility options are becoming equally important.\n\n• **Regulatory clarity is critical for investment.** Storage projects require stable rules around licensing, grid connection, market participation, charging behaviour, and revenue stacking in order to become bankable at scale.\n\n• **The market is becoming more optimisation-driven.** As storage, intraday trading, balancing markets, and hybrid project structures become more important, engineering analysis needs to be combined with market modelling and operational decision-making.\n\nMy main takeaway is that the Greek renewable sector is entering a phase where flexibility will define value. The most interesting projects will not necessarily be those with the highest installed capacity, but those that can operate intelligently within a constrained and increasingly dynamic power system.", "summary": "Notes on renewable deployment, storage, curtailment, grid access, and the regulatory conditions shaping the next phase of the Greek electricity market.", "date_published": "2025-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/7th-renewable-storage-forum/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "BESS", "battery energy storage", "renewable energy", "curtailment", "energy storage", "grid connection", "Greece" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/wind-farm-turbine-erection", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/wind-farm-turbine-erection", "title": "Turbine Erection at the 23.1 MW Wind Farm", "content_text": "On 16 October 2025, I visited the site during the installation of the **bottom tower section** of a wind turbine, part of the ongoing construction works at the **23.1 MW Wind Farm** project.\n\nA turbine is erected in a strict sequence: the **bottom**, **mid 1**, **mid 2**, and **top** tower sections, followed by the **nacelle**, the **drive train**, the **hub**, and finally the **three blades**. Each lift has to land within tight tolerances, and each one depends on the one before it.\n\n**Key points from the erection:**\n\n• **Lifting operations set the pace.** Every section is a coordinated crane lift, measured in tonnes and in millimetres at the same time; the main and tail cranes, the rigging, and the ground team all have to work to the same plan for each piece to seat correctly.\n\n• **Weather is a hard constraint.** Wind speed governs whether a lift can proceed at all, especially for the **blades**, whose large surface area makes them the most sensitive components to handle.\n\n• **The sequence is unforgiving.** Bottom to top, then tower to nacelle to hub to blades, the order cannot be rearranged, so a delay on one lift propagates through the rest of the day.\n\n• **QA/QC and H&S frame every stage.** Our role on site is construction supervision and technical assistance: confirming that each lifting operation follows the design specifications and the H&S procedures at every step.\n\nMy main takeaway is how quickly a turbine turns from a set of components on the ground into a structure on the skyline once the lifts begin. It is impressive to watch, but what makes it possible is the precision and the coordination behind each individual lift, moving the project one step closer to delivering clean energy.", "summary": "Field notes from the erection of a wind turbine, lifted section by section from the bottom tower to the three blades, and why the sequence and the weather govern the day.", "date_published": "2025-10-16T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/wind-farm-turbine-erection/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "wind energy", "wind turbine", "turbine erection", "lifting operations", "construction supervision", "H&S", "Greece" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/ieee-pess-2025-best-paper-award", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/ieee-pess-2025-best-paper-award", "title": "Third Best Paper Award at IEEE PESS 2025", "content_text": "From 8–10 October 2025, I attended the **IEEE Power and Energy Student Summit (PESS) 2025** in Munich, hosted at the **Chair of Electric Power Transmission and Distribution** of the **Technical University of Munich**. The summit brought together students, researchers, and engineers working on smart grids, renewable energy systems, storage, and the practical challenges of the energy transition.\n\nI was honoured that our paper, **\"Integration of PV and V2G Technology in an Island Grid: A Real-Time Simulation Study of Kastellorizo\"**, received the **3rd Best Paper Award**. The work originated from my thesis at the **Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering** of the **University of Patras**, supervised by Prof. **George Konstantopoulos**, and was carried out in co-supervision with Prof. **Thomas Hamacher** at the Chair of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems of the **Technical University of Munich**.\n\nThe paper examines how **photovoltaic generation** and **Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G)** technology can support the operation of a small non-interconnected island grid. The case study focused on **Kastellorizo**, using actual grid data from **HEDNO**, and the island's medium-voltage network was modelled on the **Typhoon HIL** real-time simulation platform.\n\nThe results showed that V2G can improve the grid's frequency response during disturbances, while also reducing diesel generator output and CO₂ emissions in the simulated scenarios. More broadly, the study points to the potential of combining renewables and electric mobility in small, vulnerable power systems.\n\nMany thanks to my co-authors **Theodoros Kavvathas**, Prof. **George Konstantopoulos**, Dr. **Anurag Mohapatra**, and Prof. **Thomas Hamacher** for the guidance and collaboration throughout this work.\n\nBeyond the award itself, PESS 2025 was a valuable opportunity to discuss energy system research with people working on similar challenges from different perspectives. It strengthened my interest in island grids, storage, electric mobility, and real-time simulation as part of the future power system.", "summary": "Our work on PV and Vehicle-to-Grid integration in the isolated island grid of Kastellorizo received the 3rd Best Paper Award at IEEE PESS 2025 in Munich.", "date_published": "2025-10-10T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/ieee-pess-2025-best-paper-award/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "IEEE PESS", "V2G", "Vehicle-to-Grid", "PV integration", "Kastellorizo", "island grid", "real-time simulation", "Greece" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/evs38-gothenburg-ev-charging", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/evs38-gothenburg-ev-charging", "title": "EV Charging Research at EVS38 in Gothenburg", "content_text": "From **15–18 June 2025**, the **38th International Electric Vehicle Symposium & Exhibition (EVS38)** took place in **Gothenburg, Sweden**. Our paper, **\"Financial Impact Analysis of Electric Vehicle Charging Behavior with RNN Model and Validation Against Real-World Data\"**, was presented there by my co-author **Deniz Pekmezci**. As **first author**, I developed this work during my internship at the **Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE**.\n\nThe study addresses a practical question for the EV charging industry: can the long-term behaviour of a charger be predicted from only short-term test data? The answer matters, because it determines how much testing a charger needs before it can be trusted in the field, and how well it can be matched to solar-optimised, smart-charging operation.\n\nTo answer it, we used **BiGRU-based recurrent neural networks**, trained on short-term measurements and validated against real-world data. The models predicted long-term charging behaviour with a prediction error as low as **4.9%** for high-performing chargers. Accuracy was strongest for chargers with consistent control logic and weaker for those with more irregular behaviour, pointing to a clear conclusion: a charger's own control design shapes how predictable it is.\n\n**What the approach enables:**\n\n• Predicting long-term charger behaviour from short-term test data\n\n• Optimising solar-based smart charging systems\n\n• Reducing testing costs and accelerating product validation\n\n• Improving energy efficiency and environmental impact\n\nMany thanks to my co-authors **Zeliha Kamacı**, **Deniz Pekmezci**, and Dr. **Benedikt Köpfer** for the collaboration. The work was carried out at Fraunhofer ISE and is openly available in the EVS38 proceedings and on Zenodo.\n\nMore broadly, the study reflects a direction I find compelling: using data-driven methods to make EV charging both cheaper to validate and better integrated with renewable generation, so that the more consistent a charger's control logic is, the more reliably short-term data can stand in for the long term.", "summary": "Our EVS38 paper used BiGRU neural networks to predict long-term EV charger behaviour from short-term test data, with a prediction error as low as 4.9% for chargers with consistent control logic.", "date_published": "2025-06-18T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/evs38-gothenburg-ev-charging/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "EVS38", "EV charging", "BiGRU", "RNN", "Fraunhofer ISE", "smart charging", "machine learning" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/wind-farm-foundation-pour", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/wind-farm-foundation-pour", "title": "Foundation Pour at the 23.1 MW Wind Farm", "content_text": "On 22 May 2025, I was on site during the **continuous concrete pour** of a wind turbine foundation, an essential structural element of approximately **640 m³**, as part of the construction works at the **23.1 MW Wind Farm** project. A pour of this scale has to be carried out without interruption, over several hours, to preserve structural integrity and long-term durability.\n\nWhat makes a pour like this demanding is not the volume itself, but the requirement that it stays uninterrupted. A monolithic foundation has to be cast as a single, continuous body; any unplanned break risks a **cold joint**, a plane of weakness where fresh concrete meets concrete that has already begun to set. For a structure that will carry the cyclic loads of a wind turbine for decades, that is not an acceptable risk.\n\n**Key points from the pour:**\n\n• **Logistics define the pour.** A volume of roughly 640 m³ translates to around **80 mixer trucks** of approximately 8 m³ each, sequenced so that concrete keeps arriving without the pour ever stalling or delivered batches waiting too long on site.\n\n• **QA/QC runs in parallel with delivery.** Slump, temperature, and sampling checks accompany the incoming batches, so that what is placed in the foundation matches the design specification, not only the schedule.\n\n• **Coordination is the real structural element.** Batching plant, transport, pumping, placement, and vibration have to stay synchronised for hours; the quality of that coordination is, in practice, part of the quality of the foundation.\n\n• **Supervision is continuous, not a checkpoint.** Our role on site is construction supervision and technical assistance: verifying that what is placed matches the design specifications, QA/QC procedures, and H&S standards throughout the pour, not only at its end.\n\nMy main takeaway is that a foundation pour compresses an entire project's worth of planning into a single uninterrupted window. The engineering is visible in the concrete, but it is decided beforehand, in the logistics, the quality controls, and the coordination that let those several hours run without a single break.", "summary": "Notes from site during the continuous, uninterrupted concrete pour of a wind turbine foundation, and why the engineering is decided in the logistics, not only in the concrete.", "date_published": "2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/wind-farm-foundation-pour/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "wind energy", "wind turbine foundation", "continuous concrete pour", "construction supervision", "QA/QC", "Greece" ] }, { "id": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/ai-hub-mayor-western-achaia", "url": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/ai-hub-mayor-western-achaia", "title": "AI-Hub Meeting with the Mayor of Western Achaia", "content_text": "On 25 July 2024, the **Artificial Intelligence Hub (AI-Hub)** of the **Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering** at the **University of Patras** met with the Mayor of Western Achaia, **Grigoris Alexopoulos**, to discuss how artificial intelligence and data-driven tools could support municipal services.\n\nAI-Hub is an academic initiative focused on education, research, and the development of applications, services, and products in the field of **Artificial Intelligence**. Based at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Patras, it operates as an outward-looking hub connecting academics, researchers, students, and professionals working on AI-related topics.\n\nAt the time, **Georgios Sotiropoulos** and I were involved in AI-Hub as **collaborating undergraduate students**. The meeting was a chance to present applied work developed within the university and discuss how it could connect with real operational needs at municipal level.\n\n**Application presented:**\n\n• The AI-Hub team presented a working prototype of **Nireas**, an intelligent system for the automatic monitoring of water quality in the municipality's water distribution network.\n\n• The prototype focused on monitoring **pH, temperature, and chlorine levels**, turning operational measurements into clearer indicators and early warnings for the people responsible for maintaining the network.\n\n• The broader goal was to show how AI, sensing, and analytics workflows can support preventive maintenance, infrastructure monitoring, and more responsive municipal services.\n\n**Context:**\n\n• The meeting included Associate Professors **Kyriakos Sgarbas** and **Epaminondas Mitronikas**, **Fotis Sotiropoulos** from the AI-Hub administrative committee, and collaborating undergraduate students **Georgios Sotiropoulos** and myself.\n\n• The discussion was part of a broader effort to connect university-based AI work with practical local-government use cases, from water quality and infrastructure monitoring to citizen-facing services.\n\nFor me, this meeting was valuable because it showed how engineering and AI tools can move beyond academic prototypes and become useful in local public-sector environments. The most meaningful part was seeing how a technical demo could connect directly to the needs of a municipality and the daily life of its residents.", "summary": "A meeting between the University of Patras AI-Hub team and the Municipality of Western Achaia on practical AI applications for municipal services, including water-quality monitoring.", "date_published": "2024-07-25T00:00:00.000Z", "image": "https://lamproskonstantellos.com/news/ai-hub-mayor-western-achaia/cover.jpg", "tags": [ "AI-Hub", "artificial intelligence", "Western Achaia", "local government", "water quality monitoring", "University of Patras", "Greece" ] } ] }