Despite the different national contexts of energy systems across North-West Europe – each facing its own urgent needs and steep challenges -, renewable energy communities and technical experts from the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg are working together to empower energy communities with advanced energy management tools, helping them to optimise energy production and consumption in their local markets and adopt smarter approaches to the energy transition.
Through this collaboration, the Interreg NWE SmartCORE project is addressing the specific energy-management needs of each region. By combining collective efforts and shared expertise, the project aims to create results that are greater than the sum of their parts.
SmartCORE: United in diversity
Project partners bring different motivations for joining the SmartCORE collaboration, shaped by their national energy landscapes.
While Dutch partners are primarily concerned with increasing grid congestion and negative energy prices, other partners, such as the French, still see substantial potential for expanding renewable energy capacity in their countries. For the Netherlands, SmartCORE provides a future-proof foundation for local energy management; for France, it offers essential knowledge to help local communities navigate the complexities of the energy sector.
Partners from Luxembourg highlight the value of shared experiences and their commitment to a citizen-centred, collaborative and decentralised energy transition. Operating within an already mature community-energy landscape, Belgian partners see SmartCORE as an opportunity to diversify into new markets, such as energy forecasting and participation in TSO services. Meanwhile, in Ireland, where community energy is steadily gaining ground, partners value the project’s role in identifying opportunities, learning from more advanced regions, and demonstrating the potential of energy communities at the Irish pilot site.
SmartCORE wraps up its first year with a meeting in Loenen
On 2 and 3 December 2025, SmartCORE partners were welcomed by the Dutch Energy Community Loenen in its home town for two days of productive, in-person discussions. The meeting provided an opportunity to review progress, strengthen alignment and explore new ideas for the project’s upcoming periods.
Loenen: Home of a Dutch pilot site
Energy Community Loenen leads one of the pilot initiatives in the Netherlands, centred
on the installation of a large battery system. Combined with real-time control,
flexibility valorisation and scalable energy-management activities, this system
will enable the community to actively participate in grid-congestion management
and balancing services.
Sharing knowledge to spark innovation
Beyond
SmartCORE’s technical outcomes - which will undoubtedly equip energy
communities to optimise the generation and consumption of renewable energy - learning
remains a key asset for the project. Learning from one another, despite our
differences. Because new perspectives bring deeper understanding. Because
sharing knowledge fuels innovation. And because tomorrow we may face the very
challenges that others have already overcome.