KEMA signs Consortium Agreement for European SMARTLIFE program.

On November 28, KEMA signed a consortium agreement for the European SMARTLIFE program. The goal of SMARTLIFE is to define future paths for utility asset managers in order to meet the challenge of the replacement wave and to overcome the transition to future grids.

The SMARTLIFE program has started as an initiative of four European knowledge institutes (EDF R&D, SINTEF, CESI Ricerca and KEMA) and four utilities (ERDF, ENEL, Iberdrola and RTE), and has grown to a consortium involving 17 utilities, and eight knowledge institutes –including universities. 
 
The consortium will define research paths and proposals for future contract research to be submitted to the EC, by assessing state-of-the-art and best practices, and identifying requirements and defining solution directions. Furthermore, the consortium will stimulate European cooperation and exchange of information. The consortium activities involve five usergroups, both component related groups and asset management related groups. KEMA is represented in the steering committee, will be one of the facilitators of the program, and will participate by delivering two usergroup taskleaders and two usergroup expert participants.
 
SMARTLIFE is organized as a multiclient consortium in which the costs are covered by the participating utilities.