Press release: innovative network technologies and Europe's power

Connecting decentralised renewable generation to the power grid is one of the main reasons for investment in electricity infrastructure. Grid operators and the wider electricity industry face major challenges in carrying out this complete change in how electricity is generated and transmitted. BEST PATHS presented itself as part of a wider shift in energy innovation, from basic research through to the market take-up needed to tackle climate change.

The project set out to validate the technical feasibility, costs, impacts and benefits of new grid technologies through five large-scale demonstrations, so that more renewable energy could enter Europe’s energy mix.

The demonstrations worked towards high-performance smart grids: moving from HVDC lines to HVDC grids, upgrading the existing AC network to carry more, and integrating ultra high power superconducting DC links into it. Their results were meant to show scalable solutions that could be repeated across the pan-European power system.

The Paris workshop

Speaking to nearly 100 participants, project coordinator Vicente J. González López of Red Eléctrica de España (REE) said: “Developing and testing the performance of each of the five demo-sites provides an essential opportunity to understand the technology, manage operational and financial risk and experience hands on multi-partner delivery.”

At the event, chaired by the Italian transmission system operator Terna, each demonstration reported its progress, difficulties and innovations. These included simulations of links connecting offshore wind farms to improve access to HVDC technology; network topologies and specifications for multivendor and multi-terminal links; cheaper and more effective upgrades of AC lines; and the development of 3 GW class superconducting cables. A shared theme ran through them: relevance and replication. Grid configurations in Europe and elsewhere were described as ready for solutions able to handle the next 40 years and more of electricity consumption.

Links beyond the consortium

Internal collaboration mattered in so large a project, but BEST PATHS also worked with other initiatives moving in the same direction. On standards, Frank Schettler of Siemens led a lively discussion of the CENELEC “Guidelines and Parameter Lists for Functional Specifications for HVDC Grid Systems”. Henrik Dam of the European Commission connected the work to EU policy and to initiatives such as the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, to which BEST PATHS contributed. Several participants cited the concluding e-Highway2050 project, which set out a vision for transmission infrastructure and investment, as a reference point.

The event closed with a debate on market dynamics, policy and technology, chaired by Roberto Vigotti, secretary general of Res4Med. The panel heard from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Statoil, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.

The project planned further public workshops and debates to share its progress, and its results were to feed into European impact analyses of how far the solutions could scale, with publication expected from 2018. The press release was also issued as a PDF.

The “3 GW class” cable mentioned in Paris was presented in its final design in July 2018, rated for up to 3.2 GW; how it is built is set out on the Demonstration 5 page.