Swiss-Latvian Smart Energy Digital Centre Opens With a Webinar on 12 August
The Swiss-Latvian Smart Energy Digital Centre holds its first webinar on 12 August, bringing Continental European power-system expertise and Latvian residential market experience into one open online session. Participation is free and the invitation is open to researchers, industry, public institutions and anyone working on the energy transition in Latvia.
EVENTS
HydrogenLatvia
8/10/20262 min read
Europe's power system is being rebuilt while it runs. The countries that manage it well are rarely the ones that invent everything themselves — they are the ones that borrow expertise quickly and put it to work at home. That is the idea behind the Swiss-Latvian Smart Energy Digital Centre, and on 12 August it opens its doors with a first webinar that anyone working on the energy transition here can join.
A new channel between Latvian and Swiss energy expertise
The Centre is a collaborative platform established within the LACISE project, built to move knowledge between researchers, industry representatives, innovators and policymakers in Latvia and Switzerland. LACISE itself sits under the Swiss-Latvian cooperation framework in applied research, with smart energy and ICT as its focus areas.
What makes the format worth attention is how low the barrier is. No membership, no fee, no closed circle — the session is online, in English, and explicitly open to students and newcomers as much as to established industry.
Two perspectives on the same problem
The inaugural webinar pairs a continental view with a domestic one, which is a smarter pairing than it first looks.
Dr. Rafael Segundo of Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) speaks on the Continental European power system — its current landscape, the challenges ahead and the pathways toward a sustainable future. Switzerland sits in the electrical middle of Europe, and its researchers have spent years on exactly the questions the Baltic grid now faces after synchronisation with the continental network.
Egils Trumpe of Ignitis Group Latvia follows with EnergySmart challenges in Latvia's residential market — the demand side, where flexibility either becomes real or stays theoretical.
Webinar details at a glance
Event: First webinar of the Swiss-Latvian Smart Energy Digital Centre (LACISE project)
Date: 12 August 2026
Time: 13:00–14:00 EEST (Riga) | 12:00–13:00 CEST
Format: Online, via Zoom
Language: English
Participation: Free of charge, no fee for attendance
Speakers: Dr. Rafael Segundo (ZHAW, Switzerland) and Egils Trumpe (Ignitis Group Latvia)
Open to: researchers, public institutions, industry professionals, innovation ecosystem stakeholders, students and anyone following the energy transition
Join link: us06web.zoom.us/j/86990429440
Why this belongs on the hydrogen calendar
Smart energy and hydrogen are often filed as separate conversations. They are not. Every serious hydrogen or Power-to-X project in the Baltics depends on a grid that can absorb variable renewables and on a market design that rewards flexibility — and the residential smart-energy layer is where a large share of that flexibility will actually be delivered.
Put differently: demand response and smart metering handle the hours. Hydrogen and PtX handle the days and the seasons. Latvian hydrogen ecosystem stakeholders who understand both ends of that timescale will build better business cases than those who only look at one.
An open invitation
First sessions set the tone for what a platform becomes. This one is free, cross-border and deliberately open, which is roughly the model the Latvian hydrogen ecosystem needs more of. If you have an hour on Wednesday, it is a well-spent one.
Source: LACISE project Invites You to a Webinar on the Challenges and Opportunities of the Energy Transition