Consortium
The BEST PATHS consortium: 39 partners from 11 European countries
Eight transmission system operators sat in the BEST PATHS consortium, from Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Norway, Hungary and Denmark, and that count explains much of how the project worked: every demonstration had an operator either leading it or at the table as a future buyer. Around them were cable and converter manufacturers, a wind utility, research centres and universities, 39 organisations in all from 11 countries. Red Eléctrica de España coordinated the project.
The table follows the European Commission’s project record on CORDIS. Some companies appear there under names they took after the project, and the demonstration pages used the names of the time; both are given where they differ.
| Country | Partners |
|---|---|
| Belgium | Elia; Greenovate! Europe |
| Denmark | Energinet; Technical University of Denmark (DTU) |
| France | RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Électricité); Nexans France; ESPCI Paris; Centrale Lille |
| Germany | 50Hertz Transmission; Siemens; Nexans Deutschland; Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM); Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS Potsdam); Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT); TU Dresden |
| Hungary | MAVIR; BME VIKING |
| Italy | Terna Rete Italia; Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico (RSE); Columbus Superconductors; De Angeli Prodotti; Balcke-Dürr Energy Solutions (Toshiba T&D Europe at the time) |
| Norway | Statnett; Nexans Norway; SINTEF Energy Research; EFLA |
| Spain | Red Eléctrica de España (coordinator); Iberdrola Renovables; Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM); Universidad Pontificia Comillas; Fundación CIRCE; Enertron |
| Sweden | Hitachi Energy Sweden (ABB at the time); STRI |
| Switzerland | CERN |
| United Kingdom | UK Grid Solutions (Alstom Grid at the time); University of Strathclyde; Cardiff University |
Who led what
The five demonstrations were led by Iberdrola (offshore wind on HVDC), RTE (converter interoperability), Terna (the SACOI multi-terminal link), 50Hertz (repowering AC corridors) and Nexans (the superconducting cable). Germany and Spain supplied seven partners each. Switzerland’s only member was CERN, which had tested MgB2 superconducting wire in 2014 and joined the cable work.
Two names that appear in the demonstration descriptions are not in the EU’s list of beneficiaries: the wind turbine maker Gamesa, named among the Demo 1 partners, and Relogable, credited in the Demo 4 results. Their exact role is not recorded on CORDIS.
The chairman of the consortium was Antonio Iliceto of Terna. For the work each partner did, see the five demonstrations, and for the reports they produced, the publications list.