Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ERIGrid (European Research Infrastructure supporting Smart Grid Systems Technology Development, Validation and Roll Out)
Berichtszeitraum: 2018-11-01 bis 2020-04-30
"There is a clear trend towards an increase in the number of distributed energy sources being integrated into the electric energy infrastructure. Power grids, in their current form, will soon be unable to cope with the increased use of renewables. As such, intelligent power networks are required to cope with this challenge while still managing both the complexity and scale. For the future, better coordination and optimization between generators and consumers is essential in order to secure both the power supply and quality. Based on these necessary and expected developments, it is envisioned that a complex system of ""smart grids"" will evolve to integrate numerous and sophisticated automation and information technologies as a solution to the enormous challenges that the energy supply is facing. Until now, research has largely focused on developing individual and stand-alone aspects of smart grids, while holistic evaluation was often out of reach due to the lack of suitable research infrastructures. Therefore, 18 European research institutions have teamed up together in the trans-national ERIGrid project in order to tackle this problem. ERIGrid provides a single point of access to integrated smart grid research infrastructures addressing the following key objectives:
• To integrate major European research centres with outstanding smart grid research infrastructures for the joint development of common methods, concepts, and procedures.
• To integrate and enhance the necessary research services for analysing, validating, and testing smart grid configurations.
• To support the technology development as well as the roll-out of smart grid approaches and solutions in Europe that are based on a holistic, cyber-physical systems approach.
• To provide system-level support and education for industrial and academic researchers in the area of smart grids.
The ERIGrid holistic validation approach has been broadly used for different project-internal validation activities, by several user groups to prepare and document the testing and validation work in the used laboratories but also in a couple of other national and European projects. Overall, it was highlighted by all the users of the holistic validation approach how the methodology promotes clarity and order when planning the experiments and helps also in the standardization of procedures between different laboratories, fostering the collaboration possibilities between different facilities. However, it turned out that there is complexity of the process and difficulty in understanding the involved concepts and definitions. The main steps in the future development of the approach must be oriented to enhance the clarity of the concepts and to simplify the templates and documentation. Furthermore, an adoption of the validation approach to cover broader power and energy systems topics is also a future necessity to cope with future needs."
• To integrate major European research centres with outstanding smart grid research infrastructures for the joint development of common methods, concepts, and procedures.
• To integrate and enhance the necessary research services for analysing, validating, and testing smart grid configurations.
• To support the technology development as well as the roll-out of smart grid approaches and solutions in Europe that are based on a holistic, cyber-physical systems approach.
• To provide system-level support and education for industrial and academic researchers in the area of smart grids.
The ERIGrid holistic validation approach has been broadly used for different project-internal validation activities, by several user groups to prepare and document the testing and validation work in the used laboratories but also in a couple of other national and European projects. Overall, it was highlighted by all the users of the holistic validation approach how the methodology promotes clarity and order when planning the experiments and helps also in the standardization of procedures between different laboratories, fostering the collaboration possibilities between different facilities. However, it turned out that there is complexity of the process and difficulty in understanding the involved concepts and definitions. The main steps in the future development of the approach must be oriented to enhance the clarity of the concepts and to simplify the templates and documentation. Furthermore, an adoption of the validation approach to cover broader power and energy systems topics is also a future necessity to cope with future needs."
"The first period was dedicated to set up the integrated, Pan-European smart grid research infrastructure and to start with the implementation of the corresponding Networking (NA), Joint Research (JRA), and Trans-national Access (TA) activities for achieving the project objectives. The second period focused on the further development of the holistic validation procedure as well as the implementation of the advanced simulation and laboratory-based validation methods and tools. A significant effort was also put on the provision of access to the ERIGrid infrastructures. Several calls for TA user projects have been implemented and access was provided to various user groups. This work was continued in the third period as well. Summarizing, the following main achievements have been reached:
Networking Activities:
• Various educational activities (incl. summer/winter schools, tutorials, and webinars) were organized educating researchers and engineers.
• The project set-up various links with European, national, and international research projects, networks, and initiatives in order to discuss validation and testing issues in a broader scale.
• Results have been published at various conferences and scientific journals but have been presented at trade fairs and public events as well. Overall, more than 100 publications from consortium members and about 60 from corresponding TA user groups have been made.
• For the development of holistic system testing procedures; the relevant terminology and corresponding validation approach has been specified. A relational database which includes the partner profiling and research infrastructure information was implemented. A mapping approach allows the assignment of test cases to the most suitable infrastructure.
Joint Research Activities:
• The work carried out to identify relevant smart grid scenarios to be implemented in the integrated research infrastructure, led to the definition of system configurations. They have been used as basis for the development of system-level validation approaches and corresponding simulation and lab-based tools.
• Several test cases were identified based on research challenges relevant to co-simulation, hardware-in-the-loop validation, and lab-based testing containing various smart grid properties. They have been used to test different developments in ERIGrid.
• A generic interface model for defining control hierarchies, interfaces and data flow of complex distributed energy resource and smart grid applications testing schemes for labs was developed.
• A cloud-based software platform provides the basis for the creation of a virtual Pan-European smart grid research infrastructure by interconnecting all partners laboratories.
Trans-national Access Activities:
• Overall, six calls for TA user projects have been implemented which attracted 97 submissions from researchers and engineers mainly from Europe.
• After pre-screening for feasibility by the ERIGrid infrastructures and the evaluation of them by the User Selection Panel (USP) 73 project have been implemented during the project duration.
• Overall, ERIGrid supported 175 researchers with more than 1,000 access days.
A comprehensive overview of all the achievements in ERIGrid are provided by the open access book ""European Guide to Power System Testing: The ERIGrid Holistic Approach for Evaluating Complex Smart Grid Configurations” as well as in the ""Final Public Project Report"". "
Networking Activities:
• Various educational activities (incl. summer/winter schools, tutorials, and webinars) were organized educating researchers and engineers.
• The project set-up various links with European, national, and international research projects, networks, and initiatives in order to discuss validation and testing issues in a broader scale.
• Results have been published at various conferences and scientific journals but have been presented at trade fairs and public events as well. Overall, more than 100 publications from consortium members and about 60 from corresponding TA user groups have been made.
• For the development of holistic system testing procedures; the relevant terminology and corresponding validation approach has been specified. A relational database which includes the partner profiling and research infrastructure information was implemented. A mapping approach allows the assignment of test cases to the most suitable infrastructure.
Joint Research Activities:
• The work carried out to identify relevant smart grid scenarios to be implemented in the integrated research infrastructure, led to the definition of system configurations. They have been used as basis for the development of system-level validation approaches and corresponding simulation and lab-based tools.
• Several test cases were identified based on research challenges relevant to co-simulation, hardware-in-the-loop validation, and lab-based testing containing various smart grid properties. They have been used to test different developments in ERIGrid.
• A generic interface model for defining control hierarchies, interfaces and data flow of complex distributed energy resource and smart grid applications testing schemes for labs was developed.
• A cloud-based software platform provides the basis for the creation of a virtual Pan-European smart grid research infrastructure by interconnecting all partners laboratories.
Trans-national Access Activities:
• Overall, six calls for TA user projects have been implemented which attracted 97 submissions from researchers and engineers mainly from Europe.
• After pre-screening for feasibility by the ERIGrid infrastructures and the evaluation of them by the User Selection Panel (USP) 73 project have been implemented during the project duration.
• Overall, ERIGrid supported 175 researchers with more than 1,000 access days.
A comprehensive overview of all the achievements in ERIGrid are provided by the open access book ""European Guide to Power System Testing: The ERIGrid Holistic Approach for Evaluating Complex Smart Grid Configurations” as well as in the ""Final Public Project Report"". "
In order to tackle the lack of an integrated approach for analysing and evaluating smart grid approach, technologies, and solutions ERIGrid enhances the state-of-the-art in simulation and lab-based testing. The main improvements are related to the harmonization of the coupling of domain-specific simulation tools (incl. real-time simulation and HIL), the further development of lab-based testing methods as well as the coupling of different lab-environments supported by holistic, multi-domain validation approach. ERIGrid also provides a single-entry point to various smart grid research infrastructures tackling system-level research and technology development questions. This will contribute to structuring the European research area on a broad scale, ranging from integrating renewables, active distribution grids, and cyber-security solutions up to system-level testing. Hence, researchers from industry and academia will have greatly improved access to the best smart grid research infrastructures. This will strengthen the technical leadership of Europe in the energy domain.