INESC TEC contributes to the integration of renewable energies in the European power system

INESC TEC contributes to the integration of renewable energies in the European power system

INESC TEC is the only Portuguese representative in a European project that demonstrated the existence of favourable conditions to integrate renewable energies, including off-shore wind power, in the European electrical system. The project also identified the need for a more active use of renewable power in certain services which are essential for the operation of the power grid.

31st January 2014

NEW SKILLS AT INESC TEC’S POWER SYSTEMS UNIT THANKS TO PROJECT TWENTIES

The TWENTIES (Transmission system operation with large penetration of Wind and other renewable Electricity sources in Networks by means of innovative Tools and Integrated Energy Solutions) proved to be a challenging and ambitious project which eventually brought new skills to  INESC TEC’s Power Systems Unit (USE) in an emerging area of intervention – high-voltage direct current grids.

Enhancing the integration of renewable energy to meet European targets

Significantly increase the development, testing and implementation of new technologies to increase the generation of wind power in the European power system was the objective of the TWENTIES, a project that began in April 2010 and was concluded late last year. The 26 European partners, where INESC TEC was the only Portuguese institution, identified and demonstrated solutions that are expected to contribute to an increased incorporation (on-shore and off-shore) of wind power into electrical systems.

The solutions identified by the TWENTIES will simultaneously help to meet the goal that the EU wants to achieve by 2020 with regard to energy resources - reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 percent, improve energy efficiency by 20 percent, and ensure that 20 percent of consumption comes from renewable sources.

The project was distinguished by the European Electricity Grid Initiative (EEGI), one of the industrial initiatives of the SET-Plan (Strategic Energy Technology Plan). The EEGI acknowledged that the solutions identified by the TWENTIES aim at improving the safety of the pan-European transport network, thus giving Europe the capacity to respond to the increasing share of renewables to be included in the energy matrix until 2020. “This distinction was not only an acknowledgment of the work done, but it also improved its dissemination through GRID+ support mechanisms (http://www.gridplus.eu/),” stated Carlos Moreira, one of the USE researchers involved in the project.

USE improves know-how on high voltage direct current grids

The INESC TEC team, composed of Carlos Moreira, Bernardo Silva, Fernanda Resende, Helena Vasconcelos and João Peças Lopes, had a very active participation in the development of the concept of “Virtual Power Plant” (VPP), including the control, exploitation and integration of large offshore and onshore parks and interconnected grids.

The researchers also participated in the definition of system services provided by the VPP to control frequency and voltage levels. “The objectives of the project, and in particular those relating to INESC TEC’s work, were very ambitious and brought additional challenges, and the amount and quality of the work developed show that these goals have been successfully achieved,” stated Carlos Moreira, who also emphasized INESC TEC’s important contribution in this project. “Generally speaking, INESC TEC’s activity allowed us to give new contributions to the design of control systems for the future European grids that will integrate offshore wind farms systems,” he said.

Acquiring new skills, including on high voltage direct current grids, was one of the most positive aspects enabled by the TWENTIES. Besides being a new field of expertise at USE, this is also an emerging work area “that is highly relevant, which is confirmed by the attention it receives in the Horizon 2020 Programme, where we continue to work,” according to Carlos Moreira. “In particular, we are taking advantage of the laboratory conditions [INESC TEC’s Laboratory of Microgrids and Electric Vehicles] to explore new solutions that will allow us to control these grids and test them in scale models,” the researcher added.

Bringing together 26 multidisciplinary partners (important transmission system operators, equipment manufacturers and institutes worldwide) from ten different Member States (Spain, Denmark, France, Belgium, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Ireland and Italy), the TWENTIES project was concluded late last year. This was a collaborative project of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the Energy 2009 programme, which had a total budget of 60 million Euros, 32 million of which was financed by the European Union.

The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this article are associated with the following partner institution: INESC Porto and FEUP.

INESC TEC, January 2014