FLEXCoop is one and a half year old already and we are reaching the mid-term of the project. The first set of components are operational and we are getting ready for implementation! Here are some highlights on few key issues related to our relationship with our pilot users.
Who wants to try out energy tech of the future?
The fist challenge related to pilot users is to find them! We are now at the final stage of selection of our pilot participants. Our cooperative partners ODE and Som Energia have found a large list of enthusiastic volunteers in Catalonia and in the Netherlands, and FLEXCoop’s technical partners have selected among them the ones with the most suitable devices. We now have a full list of 20 motivated pilot users with a mix of different technologies: heat pumps, electric boiler, electric air conditioning and solar PV that we will be able to test over the remaining one and a half year. Welcome on board and cheers to them!
Your private data is safe with us
Another important aspect is the protection of private data. The raw material of FLEXCoop is data which is at the core of the solution we are building. Fortunately, thanks to the General Data Protection Directive (GDPR), the EU has now one of the world most advanced legislation regarding the protection of private data. In line with the GDPR’s recommendation, all the data used in FLEXCoop will pseudonymised. This means that only the cooperative, in their quality of data controllers, will have the name and personal details of the pilot users. The technical partners, a.k.a. the data processors in GDPR’s jargon, will have only a number.
Moreover appropriate information to users and contractual relationship with involved partners have been put in place to ensure we are legally safe. The FLEXCoop consortium will work with National Data Protection Authorities in Spain and in the Netherlands to make sure we are compliant with existing laws.
Making live the discussion
The Energy Transition touches upon all of us, however the technical angle through which FLEXCoop addresses it may be a barrier for some of our targeted audience: pilot users, cooperative members, European citizens.To the contrary, some of the cooperative members involved hold a very valuable expertise in energy as a whole or in some of the related technology. In order to communicate in two ways and to maintain alive the debate, the cooperatives will set up communication material to leave nobody on the side of the road and will organise some workshops were they will listen carefully to the feedback of their members. Stay tuned to our website to be updated!