Cities for Open and Participative Planning for Electricity grid Resilience

COPPER supports local authorities in the North Sea Region (NSR) to build capacity and readiness for their emerging future role as lead coordinators of Europe’s local energy systems. It positions NSR as a pioneer in future local energy system management, benefiting all energy stakeholders through flexible and clean energy grids. It also builds local capacity by delivering a joint digital toolbox guiding NSR cities in local energy planning, market facilitation, and infrastructure delivery. The project brings together a total of 10 project partners and 6 sub-partners from 6 NSR cities across the Netherlands (Dordrecht), Belgium (Ghent (Lead Partner), Antwerp), Germany (Bremen), Denmark (Fredrecia), and Sweden (Gothenburg), in partnership with relevant local DSOs, research institutions, and private sector solution providers.
The project is structured across three work packages, delivering: a joint digital toolkit in WP1 to support local authority future grid planning, market facilitation, and project delivery; 6 technical pilot sites trialling integrated smart energy system solutions across varied policy and commercial contexts in WP2; and local authority-led local energy plans (LEPs) in WP3, which integrate these outputs into long-term strategies for flexible, clean, digital, and decentralized local energy systems aligned with COPPER city’s net zero goals.