The CROSSBOW consortium officially started its activities with a General Assembly hosted by the Ministry of Energy and the national Transmission System Operator in Bulgaria (ESO). The opening session counted with the welcome of Bulgarian Minister of Energy Ms. Temenujka Petkova. In total, 77 experts from the 24 entities participating in this international research event met during two days in different workshops and sessions in order to define the demonstration activities that will be run by the project during the next four years, targeting the wide adoption of clean energies in South Eastern Europe.

As concluded at the kick off meeting, the objective of the Project is to demonstrate a number of different, though complementary, technologies, offering the regional transmission network higher flexibility and robustness through: 

• a better control of exchange power at international interconnection points;
• new energy storage solutions – distributed and centralized-,
• better Communications and control - e.g., better network observability;
• the definition of a transnational wholesale market, proposing fair and sustainable remuneration for clean energies though the definition of new business models supporting the participation of new players and the reduction of costs.

The CROSSBOW results will be evaluated by 8 TSOs in South Eastern Europe, grouped to form clusters that will validate each of the project’s outcomes in at least three different countries, demonstrating in all cases how CROSSBOW tackles the transnational challenges faced by the region.