Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GreenVerter (Greenverter a revolutionary power converter technology to reduce environmental and economic losses due to electro pollution)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-08-01 al 2020-01-31
Low power quality and electro pollution, caused by modern electronics and appliances in homes, public and industrial areas, go hand in hand entailing high costs caused by interrupted productions, increased maintenance, equipment degradation, and the associated waste. Renewable energy converters are also severely affected. Because of the uncontrollable renewable energy sources the price of the energy changes in a wide range. For the industrial sector, the estimated costs due to poor power quality represent 4% of the turnover. The impact of production interruptions caused by low power quality is the greatest in companies with continuous production. Large industrial facilities in the US loose over $100B every year, while in EU-25 countries it is more than €150B. The available large-scale smart grid solutions provide devices only for huge customers and power plants. Customers also need a lower power, distributed solution.
Greenverter, our pioneering innovation, is a smart energy management family. Building into the local electricity grid, it is capable to efficiently and reliably convert electrical power while improving the power quality and reducing electro pollution. Its heart is our revolutionary controller, which calculates the necessary optimal compensating current in the highly nonlinear local electrical network and the power converter unit injects it. Greenverter aims at reducing power quality related breakdowns by 10%, reducing maintenance costs by 5% and reducing extra penalties of electricity bill at the consumers by 25-40%.
Greenverter, our pioneering innovation, is a smart energy management family. Building into the local electricity grid, it is capable to efficiently and reliably convert electrical power while improving the power quality and reducing electro pollution. Its heart is our revolutionary controller, which calculates the necessary optimal compensating current in the highly nonlinear local electrical network and the power converter unit injects it. Greenverter aims at reducing power quality related breakdowns by 10%, reducing maintenance costs by 5% and reducing extra penalties of electricity bill at the consumers by 25-40%.
During the project a detailed feasibility study was developed. The main results are as follows:
• A detailed market analysis of the smart inverter sector was carried out and the major market players were identified. Market opportunities relating to the integration of renewable energy sources as well as to the enhanced security of power distribution were revealed.
• In order to better define our business concept we applied the Business Model Canvas methodology. This helped us to analyse our new product, placing in the focus our targeted user groups, the route to market, the value proposition, and the financial issues.
• The major competitors were identified and the market available products were compared to Greenverter. The competitive advantages of Greenverter were presented.
• The business model was updated. The outsourcing of production activities as well as the involvement of international distributors were examined.
• The financial feasibility was investigated and confirmed. Detailed revenue, cost, and profit calculations were performed.
• Business and technology related risks were analysed and contingency plans were elaborated.
• A roadmap to release our product for a wide customer base was developed.
• Our advertising and promotion strategies were revised and updated.
• The technology background including the relating standards was overviewed. An upgraded product prototype was developed, tested and validated, furthermore, a new AI-based prediction module was designed. The technical feasibility was confirmed.
• Detailed freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis was executed, the latest patent search results were summarized, the knowledge protection, and IPR strategies were formulated.
• A preliminary project plan with the main work packages and tasks was established.
• A detailed market analysis of the smart inverter sector was carried out and the major market players were identified. Market opportunities relating to the integration of renewable energy sources as well as to the enhanced security of power distribution were revealed.
• In order to better define our business concept we applied the Business Model Canvas methodology. This helped us to analyse our new product, placing in the focus our targeted user groups, the route to market, the value proposition, and the financial issues.
• The major competitors were identified and the market available products were compared to Greenverter. The competitive advantages of Greenverter were presented.
• The business model was updated. The outsourcing of production activities as well as the involvement of international distributors were examined.
• The financial feasibility was investigated and confirmed. Detailed revenue, cost, and profit calculations were performed.
• Business and technology related risks were analysed and contingency plans were elaborated.
• A roadmap to release our product for a wide customer base was developed.
• Our advertising and promotion strategies were revised and updated.
• The technology background including the relating standards was overviewed. An upgraded product prototype was developed, tested and validated, furthermore, a new AI-based prediction module was designed. The technical feasibility was confirmed.
• Detailed freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis was executed, the latest patent search results were summarized, the knowledge protection, and IPR strategies were formulated.
• A preliminary project plan with the main work packages and tasks was established.
The state of the art research pointed out that development of smart inverters is concentrating on standardized functionalities for interoperability and centralized communications for integration at utility applications. The scenarios predict a growing penetration of the distributed energy sources in the overall energy mix. Although interoperability can provide many benefits from the system control perspective, smart inverters with advanced autonomous capabilities, such as Greenverter, will play major roles in distributed grid controls. A clear need was identified allowing to extend the capabilities of smart inverters into distributed deployment applications (e.g. microgrids) while equipping them with further autonomous, and cooperative control functions. The market assessment indicated that the inverter market will continue to grow in the forthcoming years. The trends will expectedly induce favourable market conditions for Greenverter that helps grid integration and reduces lost costs for electricity consumers by harmonic current cancellation. In this environment Greenverter can promote further the enhancement of renewable energy use, especially solar and wind, improving the utilization of resources and the electrical distribution infrastructure. Minimization of electrical network pollution provides a major economic and environmental benefit for the industrial, commercial and residential users as well as network operators. It will also strengthen the European green energy sector comparing to the East Asian region.