The Congress, held on 18th and 19th October at the Technical Industrial Engineering School of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), gathered the key players in the sector to discuss the challenges and opportunities derived from digitalisation of electrical grids and where the “Smart Grids Basque Country" value chain took centre stage.

For two days a comprehensive programme comprising 2 keynote speeches, 4 round tables and 20 presentations became a platform for speakers and attendees to exchange their experience and points of view regarding the current situation of Smart Grids, their degree of deployment and technological development, technical and regulation challenges as well as the professional profiles most in demand in the sector.

The event was attended by many Basque value chain companies and players both amongst the public and on stage. Seven out of the twenty selected speeches were delivered by EDP, Gas Natural Fenosa, Ormazabal (2), UPV-EHU and Tecnalia (2) as well as the keynote speech "Bidelek Sareak: Smart Grid large scale deployment in the metropolitan area of Bilbao", jointly presented by Eduardo Navarro, Co-ordinator of Bidelek Sareak project; Iberdrola Distribución Eléctrica and José Ignacio Hormaeche, Basque Energy Cluster Director.

Basque participation was brought to a close with the contribution of participants in the different round tables organised, such as Ormazabal in the regulatory issues table; CEIT-IK4 discussing professional profiles; and the Basque Energy Cluster dealing with digitalisation of Smart Grids.