OptiMG is an initiative funded under the LEAP-RE H2020 project (GA n. 963530) which is looking at the creation of synergies among African and European continents with the intention of promoting Sustainable Development Goals and universal energy access. The main objective of OptiMG is to promote the use of decentralized renewable energy solutions for enhancing sustainable development and increasing awareness around Water-Energy-Food Nexus.

Why it matters

While renewable energy technologies for off-grid electrification are already technically mature, their integration with water infrastructure and food production remains limited. Existing project planning tools are often proprietary, difficult to access and rarely account for the complex interactions between energy demand, irrigation, water treatment, agricultural processing and productive uses.

Without integrated planning, communities risk deploying systems that are technically inefficient, economically unsustainable or unable to generate long-term local development. OPTiMG addresses this gap by combining renewable energy engineering with open digital tools, stakeholder engagement and capacity building to support better investment decisions for rural electrification.

What the project does

OPTiMG develops a comprehensive framework for planning integrated mini-grids that serve both households and productive economic activities.

The project:

• analyses real-world demonstration sites in Morocco and South Africa to understand local Water-Energy-Food interactions;
• identifies technology solutions and productive-use cases that maximise local socio-economic benefits;
• develops open-source demand assessment tools that jointly model energy, water and agricultural needs;
• creates optimisation software to support the design of integrated renewable energy systems including storage and smart-grid technologies;
• validates the tools through real application cases;
• delivers multilingual training programmes, workshops and knowledge-sharing activities for researchers, planners and project developers.

Expected impact

By improving the way integrated mini-grids are planned and designed, OPTiMG contributes to accelerating sustainable rural electrification across Africa.

The project is expected to:

• improve access to reliable renewable energy for underserved communities;
• strengthen water security and agricultural productivity through integrated infrastructure planning;
• increase productive uses of energy, supporting local businesses and income generation;
• reduce dependence on diesel generation and unsustainable biomass;
• lower greenhouse gas emissions while improving the resilience of water, food and energy systems;
• strengthen African and European research collaboration through open-source tools, policy recommendations and capacity-building initiatives.

Engreen’s role

Within OPTiMG, Engreen leads the development of the demand assessment tools for Water-Energy-Food systems, supporting the creation of open-source methodologies that improve local renewable energy planning. The company also contributes its expertise in energy access, productive uses of renewable energy and business modelling to develop a policy and technical roadmap for accelerating rural electrification in Morocco’s agricultural sector.

Consortium

Coordinator

• Reiner Lemoine Institut (Germany)

Partners

• Green Energy Park (Morocco)
• Hassan II University of Casablanca (Morocco)
• University of Cape Town (South Africa)
• Tshwane University of Technology (South Africa)
• Engreen (Italy)

Official website: https://www.leap-re.eu/optimg/

OPTiMG is funded under the LEAP-RE (Long-Term Joint EU–AU Research and Innovation Partnership on Renewable Energy) – Joint Call 2022. The Italian participation of Engreen is supported by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) through the FIRST and IGRUE funds under the national funding scheme for LEAP-RE projects.