In the first edition of the EDP Labelec Merit Award, the prize jointly promoted by EDP Labelec and EDP New, two areas of the group focused on developing innovation projects in the energy sector, two doctoral theses focused on renewable energy were awarded ex aequo: Carla Sofia da Silva Gonçalves from the University of Porto, with a thesis on "Renewable Energy Forecasting - Extreme Quantiles, Data Privacy and Monetization" (PhD in Applied Mathematics) and; Simon Camal, with a thesis on "Forecasting and optimization of ancillary services provision by renewable energy sources", from the MINES Paris Tech School, Paris Science and Letters University (PhD in Energy and Processes).

Carla Gonçalves' thesis, aims to contribute to increase the share of renewable energy sources in three ways: helping decision makers by modeling extreme power quantiles given weather forecasts; ensuring that several energy agents can perform collaborative forecasting and developing a data market to promote such collaborative forecasting while Simon Camal's thesis points out a solution to reduce uncertainty in aggregating dispersed renewable production to obtain a smoother production profile and operation within a Virtual power plant control system. This thesis proposes methods for forecasting aggregated renewable production and strategies for the joint supply of renewable energy and services. Each will be awarded the prize of 10,000 euros.

Launched in January 2022, the EDP Labelec Merit Award aims to distinguish academic excellence in the area of energy and is aimed at university students from all markets in which the group operates and who have developed master's or doctoral theses on this topic.

The first edition had more than 60 applications in areas such as production and integration of renewable energy and decarbonization, smart grids and energy distribution, new clean energy solutions and innovation technologies and digital solutions.

The selection of the winners was in charge of a jury composed by Ana Paula Marques (executive board member of EDP), Vera Silva (PhD, General Electric), Georgios Karionotakis (Full Professor, École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris), Nikos Hatziargyriou (Full Professor, National Technical University of Athens) and Fátima Montemor (Full Professor and Vice-President of Instituto Superior Técnico).

Applications for the 2nd edition of the EDP Labelec Merit Award open in early 2023 and can be made through the EDP Labelec website.

With this award, EDP reinforces its mission to actively contribute to the development of the energy sector, with a clear and solid commitment to innovation and energy transition. The group, currently present in 29 markets, is fully committed to participating in a collective response to the challenges that are imposed to ensure the sustainability of the planet and the EDP Labelec Merit Award will be another important step in this direction.