Our partner Ilias Fountoulakis, from the National Observatory of Athens and PMOD-WRC, virtually participated on the 6th of September at the event “Current and future opportunities for EU-Africa cooperation in the Space domain” held at Pretoria - South Africa, with the presentation entitled “Solar energy nowcasting and forecasting with nextSENSE”.
At the session “Research as a tool for engagement in space”, our pilot nextSENSE: solar energy nowcasting & short-term forecasting system, had the opportunity to present the potential uses of the nextSENSE model at the African continent, which posseses the largest potential for solar energy production globally. Use of solar energy gives a great opportunity to provide cheap, affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy to Africans and achieve welfare, economic growth. Solar energy nowcasting and forecasting can play a key role in the optimization of the solar energy forecasting.
The event, which attracted more than 40 members from African private companies, academia public authorities etc. and are considered as key stakeholders, was focused on the overarching theme of the ongoing and future collaboration between the EU and Africa in the space domain. It showcased how African space stakeholders and local communities can benefit from the EU Space Programme. More broadly, the event aimed to further foster synergies and collaboration between the EU and the African space ecosystems.
At the end, a fruitful discussion was performed with potential stakeholders.
Find the full presentation here
The e-shape project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 820852