Best Paths ends with a call for further action on Europe's energy grid

Almost two years of contract negotiation with the European Commission came before the start: BEST PATHS finally got under way at the end of 2014, on a route planned to last four years and expected to be hard. Among the trickiest tasks were coordinating almost 40 partners spread across Europe, working in a field that sat on the edge between competition and collaboration, and the sheer complexity of the technical work.

As the project closed, its coordinator Vicente González López of Red Eléctrica de España said: “The many challenges are probably the reason why I feel really proud saying that, in this five years’ time, Best Paths has achieved almost 100% of its initial objectives. And these results have been obtained thanks to the hard work carried out by all partners, and to the outstanding commitment of Demonstration leaders which were working hard to achieve short-term targets in due time, putting the focus in project results and calendar instead of in project resources.”

Where the results landed

The main focus of the project, and the area with the most significant results, was the evolution of the transmission grid: making sure it could meet the requirements of market actors in the new energy system at an affordable cost.

Three strands carried that work. The project sped up HVDC grid development, both by de-risking the use of different HVDC converter technologies with wind generation and by showing that some interoperability problems can be fixed when a single vendor adjusts its control strategy. It validated technologies that raise grid capacity and flexibility by uprating and revamping existing AC and DC lines. And it validated gigawatt-scale superconducting cables, a very powerful solution.

González López added a caution: “Nevertheless, we must be aware that BestPaths is a demonstration project. The impact in the society will demand additional effort in solutions industrialisation and commercialisation, some topics will demand further research work.”

What came next

European research in the field was set to continue, backed by a clear commitment from major actors in the electricity sector to move towards a greenhouse gas-free economy.

Several H2020 projects were already running on closely related topics: MIGRATE, on operating power systems based entirely on power electronic interfaces; PROMOTioN, on HVDC protection and test protocols for DC circuit breakers; and, on AC grid flexibility, OSMOSE. HVDC converter interoperability, control standardisation and the economics of superconducting links were expected to attract particular interest and further investment.

González López closed with this: “Considering that transmission grids represent the backbone of the new energy system, investment in the future grid is mandatory, if Europe wants to continue leading the transition process world-wide. Large amount of energy should be moved across the whole Europe to maximise the efficient use of all primary resources and keeping present standards on reliability and security of supply. All relevant actors, such as policy makers, regulatory authorities, TSOs and utilities, manufacturers, research community and citizens, need to realise there is no time to lose.”

Each of the five demonstrations behind these results has its own page under the demonstrations, and the voltage source converters at the centre of the interoperability work are explained under HVDC transmission.