It's becoming something of a cliché in the business world to talk about working smarter not harder, but in the field of energy generation, it's the next big thing. The electricity networks of Europe serve us well in today’s world of fossil fuels, but  if we are to meet our future energy needs we need smarter ways to generate and distribute our electricity.

With more and more renewable energy being generated and absorbed into our electrical grid networks, more choices will be available in the future to end users as to where they source their power and how they consume it.

That's where 'Smart-grid' systems come in. Smart-grid systems use monitoring systems and automated technology to feed electrcity from where it is generated to where it is needed in the most efficient way, while at the same time reducing energy consumption. That could mean drawing the power for your lighting from the national grid or the wind farm down the road - whichever is most efficient at the time.

There is already significant interest in the concept across Europe. Creating localised, intelligent electrical networks will protect users from the future risks of black-outs and periods of electricity shortages when electricity supplies struggle to meet with increased energy demands during peak periods.

But getting major utility companies to invest in the reaserch needed is not always easy - especially in today's financial climate. So the British Embassy in Madrid, working in partnership with the President of Spain's Private office, are looking at small-scale projects that can deliver global benefits.

We have introduced technology experts from the UK’s leading renewable energy R&D centre at NaREC, to their counterparts at CENER, National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain. Together they are now researching new ways of generating and distributing power from small-scale renewables within local communities.

Working with Spanish and UK communities of between 10 and 25,000, the project aims to demonstrate the most appropriate way to integrate low carbon power generation technologies into a localised, community-based electrical system. Such technologies could include small-scale wind turbines, solar power, fuel cells, reciprocating engines and many other innovative sustainable energy technologies.

They will also be looking at the best options for the storage, control, transmission and distribution of this power on a localised electrical network, which could be used as an alternative to connecting to the national electrical grid network.

Dr. Keith Melton, Director of Technology and Innovation at NaREC is excited by the possibilities. “This is an important project for us," he says. "We are addressing renewable solutions at a community level in a way which has not yet been previously attempted by the energy industry. We can pool our expertise to identify more effective, innovative solutions which can hopefully be implemented in both countries in the future.”

His counterpart at CENER, Mr. Fernando Sanchez Sudón is equally enthused: “The current energy situation is a global problem. It is only through international partnerships such as these, which develop practical solutions to be implemented at a local level, that we can truly evolve the way we generate and consume power.”

For us, this small project is another big step in the right direction. "Tackling climate change is not just the job of big industries," says Matthew Desoutter, the British Embassy in Madrid's Lead on Climate Change. "Not only is it everybody's responsibility to look for solutions to climate issues, we actually find that working on small-scale projects like these provides a flexible and fast-moving approach to research and development. That's something we desperately need if we are to deal with the rapid changes our climate is undergoing."