Renewable energy and EO: what you’ll find at LPS22

OPEN FORUM – 14:00–15:30 – Agora SAPIENS

The aim of Atlantic Regional Initiative is to embed EO-derived information into pre-operational regional monitoring, assessment and planning activities (e.g. enhanced environmental monitoring and assessment, improved management of natural resources in the region, support to regional programmes in the fields of economic development, civil security and climate resilience).
The scope of these developments is to:

1. Bridge EU policies, ESA programs and Atlantic strategies, to better anchor space uses to the needs of territories and industries, fully exploiting the potential of EO applications for better-informed decision-making and innovation processes
2. Build international partnerships and mobilize initiatives that enhance cross-sectorial exchanges amongst actors and investments
3. Integrate the EO dimension in regional innovation and SME programs, strengthening and developing local communities by raising the profile of EO capabilities towards new actors.

Chairs: Dr. Stefano Ferretti (ESA), Sara Aparício (Solenix c/o ESA – ESRIN)

OPEN FORUM – 8:30–10:00 – Agora EUROPA

The Green Deal represents an important overarching policy element of the European Commission for which EO-based solutions will provide ample support. There are already many important Directives within the Green Deal such as the Circular Economy Action Plan, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the EU Offshore Renewable energy strategy or the Farm to Fork Strategy, while others are in preparation as the new EU forest Strategy or the Zero Pollution action plan.

This Agora will bring together ESA, EC and industry key representatives to discuss the opportunity that Space represents and the related expectations to capture future innovation needs.

Chair: Dr. Giuseppe Ottavianelli (ESA)

DEEP DIVE – 10:20–11:20 – Agora EUROPA

Global consumption of materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals is expected to double by 2060, while annual waste generation is projected to increase by 70% by 2050. However the lack of reliable information on sustainability along industrial value chains is a major obstacle in delivering Green Deal and EU sustainability objectives. The novel initiatives and legislations such as European Sustainable Products Initiative and a forthcoming Directive on Sustainable Corporate Governance are meant to stimulate industrial transformation to green economy as well as empower the consumers to verify environmental claims regarding different products and their footprint measurement methods. Join this LPS22 “Talking Business” sessions with representatives of food industry, major food resellers, mining and construction industry to understand what steps they are taking to green their supply chains and how they utilise Earth Observation and Big Data to reach their green innovation objectives.

Chair: Anna Burzykowska (ESA)

TALKING BUSINESS – 12:20–13:20 – Agora GEMINI

It is estimated that in the decade 2010-2019, the world added 1,213 gigawatts of renewable power capacity, investing overall nearly USD 2.7 trillion (not counting large hydro-electric dams). Europe is leading the clean energy transformation by progressively building up a toolbox of policies addressing climate change, an ambitious set of policy targets and a leading industry, particularly in the fields of wind and ocean energy. These policies and technological innovation lie the foundation for the rise of new business models for energy-(data)-as-a-service, green tech and climate tech companies. There is indeed a window of opportunity for space actors for further engagement as per the current policy push (new European offshore and methane strategies, among others) and market pull, and the transformation and digitization of the energy value chain. The shift to monitoring and mitigating environmental impact across the energy value chain, is likewise an emerging area to be covered, and an opportunity to support new fields of activities and engage with new stakeholders.

Hence, the proposed session aims at looking holistically at the status of the clean energy market in Europe, its policies, main actors, upcoming trends and the current and future role of space technologies, applications and services. Areas such as energy financing, market design & system planning, energy generation, transmission and distribution as well as prosumer & end user can be covered by a panel discussion and audience interaction.

Chair: Thomas Crone (ESA)

SCIENTIFIC SESSION – 8:30–10:10 – Room 11 (Addis Abeba)

In recent years, the perception of the role of renewable energy has been gradually changing regarding climate change mitigation and the achievement of reliable and clean energy accessible to all. The renewable energy sector, presently booming, is in constant need of reliable and accurate information about the environment, irrespective of the types of renewables in question. At the same time, when managed effectively, mineral resources offer a real opportunity to achieve sustainable economic growth. Areas such as renewable energy, electric mobility, robotics all depend from mineral resources: it is of utmost importance to ensure that existing and new extractive activities are done in a responsible and sustainable way, minimising detrimental effects on the natural environment. Satellite EO can contribute significantly with a good basis of data for anyone designing, implementing or operating renewable energy production and distribution systems or wanting to assess the environmental footprint of such systems.

Similarly, satellite EO has been demonstrated to be of significant benefit and impact for characterising new natural resources, planning new operational infrastructure, sustainable management of extraction operations and the optimised rehabilitation of production sites once the operational activity has ceased. The proposed session aims at presenting the newest scientific advances and application examples relative to the added value of EO, especially in light of recent or upcoming relevant satellite missions. For the renewable energy sector, the focus is in particular for the marine, wind and solar energy. For the raw materials, the entire mining life cycle is in the scope, where EO supports facility operators and government regulators in ensuring that the operations are implemented, operated and closed down such that the potential negative impacts on natural capital and ecosystems are minimised.

Chairs: Zoltan Bartalis (ESA), Dolf Gielen (IRENA – International Renewable Energy Agency), Gerardo Herrera (Geological and Mining Institute of Spain)

DEEP DIVE – 16:20-17:20 – Agora SAPIENS

Marine Renewable Energies (MRE) is a fast moving new frontier in Europe’s Green energy revolution. Europe’s rapidly growing EO infrastructure can provide data solutions to support rapid and sustainable expansion, particularly if used in synergy with various other data sources. Currently MRE sector is dominated by offshore wind energy, however energy opportunities from waves, tides, salinity gradient and even algae are rapidly being realised.
For Europe, harnessing the potential of the EO and IT sectors to design and build well-framed services that support MRE is a significant opportunity, and a pressing need. However, identifying information synergies and service opportunities is difficult, requires time and resources, and is challenging for SMEs. Developers in the sector need to access the data and information they need easily, at lowest cost, and with due confidence – the source is not a priority provided they can be confident it conveys the realities of this challenging operational environment.
In this session we’ll seek to identify and clarify the main challenges that restrain our EO sector from fully engaging with the MRE opportunity. We will seek to discover how EO data needs could be more effectively identified and communicated, and large space operators and agencies that could energise technology and data application innovation.
The discussion will approach:

1. The opportunity for the EO sector, highlighting emerging gaps and sectoral synergies
2. The challenges of the EO community in working with the maritime sector to capitalise on these opportunities
3. Identification of barriers to commercial participation in realizing the needed actions
4. Possible actions and activities needed by the space sector to streamline trans-sectoral innovating, service development and commercial activity
5. A reflection on how large sectoral leaders such as ESA and the sector as a whole can strategically act to overcome the various gaps and roadblocks identified.

Chair: Filipe Brandão (GMVIS SKYSOFT), Rory G. Scarrott (University College Cork)

SCIENTIFIC SESSION – 8:30–10:10 – Room 7 (Santiago del Chile)

Stakeholders in the Atlantic region comprise a unique mix of innovative industrial actors (innovation clusters, spin-off/start-ups etc.), institutions with unique collaboration issues and research entities addressing fundamental Earth system processes.

Application and science activities in the region will form an important part of post CM22 Future EO activity. This session will review on-going activities and consider priority development areas not currently addressed.

Chairs: Dr. Jérôme Benveniste (ESA), Dr. Stefano Ferretti (ESA), Dr. Christine Sams (National Oceanography Centre)