Framework for Electric Vehicles and Photovoltaic Synergies

Historically road transport has been exclusively dominated by petrol and diesel engines. Both alternatives are proved to be unsustainable due to their environmental impacts and the limited nature of their primary resources. Today’s transportation sector in the European Union (EU) accounts for 23% of CO2 emissions, 72% of which is being emitted by road transport. The European Union’s CO2 emission regulation for new cars, has come as a response to set emission performance limits for new passenger cars with the goal of establishing a road map change for automotive sector. Furthermore, the EU has set challenging targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% in 2030 (relative to emissions in 1990) and for energy consumed to be generated at least with 27% from renewable sources in 2030. As regards energy efficiency, the 2030 framework also indicated that the cost-effective delivery of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030 would require increased energy savings of the order of 27%. The renewable energy directive particularly identified: technological innovation, energy efficiency and contribution of renewable energy sources in transport sector as one of the most effective tools in reaching the expected targets in terms of sustainability and security of the supply. In such context it is obvious that reaching these challenges will be certainly depending on the rollout of Electric Vehicles (EV) as a mean of sustainable transport, higher penetration of distributed renewable energy sources. One consequential challenge will consist in accommodating such paradigm in the most cost-efficient fashion through active involvement of customer and better flexibility of the demand. This report highlights the current trends and expected evolution in the EU in term of electromobility, Photovoltaic (PV) systems and smart grids, with the aim of identifying mutual synergies aiming at enabling: energy efficiency, sustainable transport and higher share of renewable energy sources in the final energy mix. A technical conceptual architecture for integration of EV facilities and distributed generation sources in the context of smart grid is proposed to identify the predictable penetration limits of PV systems and EV users.JRC.F.3-Energy Security, Systems and Marke

Insights from the Inventory of Smart Grid Projects in Europe: 2012 Update

By the end of 2010 the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science service, launched the first comprehensive inventory of smart grid projects in Europe1. The final catalogue was published in July 2011 and included 219 smart grid and smart metering projects from the EU-28 member states, Switzerland and Norway. The participation of the project coordinators and the reception of the report by the smart grid community were extremely positive. Due to its success, the European Commission decided that the project inventory would be carried out on a regular basis so as to constantly update the picture of smart grid developments in Europe and keep track of lessons learnt and of challenges and opportunities. For this, a new on-line questionnaire was launched in March 2012 and information on projects collected up to September 2012. At the same time an extensive search of project information on the internet and through cooperation links with other European research organizations was conducted. The resulting final database is the most up to date and comprehensive inventory of smart grids and smart metering projects in Europe, including a total of 281 smart grid projects and 90 smart metering pilot projects and rollouts from the same 30 countries that were included in the 2011 inventory database. Projects surveyed were classified into three categories: R&D, demonstration or pre-deployment) and deployment, and for the first time a distinction between smart grid and smart metering projects was made. The following is an insight into the 2012 report.JRC.F.3-Energy securit

Smart grid projects outlook 2017: facts, figures and trends in Europe

The 2017 Outlook offers a snapshot of the state of play and of the latest developments in the field of smart grids in Europe. The analysis is based on a database of 950 R & D and demonstration projects, totalling around EUR 5 billion of investment. It aims to foster knowledge sharing and to inform future policymaking.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

SMART GRIDS LABORATORIES INVENTORY 2015

A smart electricity grid opens the door to a myriad of new applications aimed at enhancing security of supply, sustainability and market competitiveness. Gathering detailed information about smart grid laboratories activities represents a primary need. In order to obtain a better picture of the ongoing Smart Grid developments, after the successful smart grid project survey initiated in 2011, we recently launched a focused on-line survey addressed to organisations owning or running Smart Grid laboratory facilities. The main objective is to publish aggregated information on a regular basis in order to provide an overview of the current facilities, to highlight trends in research and investments and to identify existing gaps.JRC.F.3-Energy Security, Systems and Marke

Smart Grid Projects Outlook 2014

Smart grid projects are playing a key role in shedding light on how to move forward in this challenging transition. In 2011, therefore, the JRC launched the first comprehensive inventory of smart grid projects in Europe to collect lessons learned and assess current developments. The participation of project coordinators and the reception of the report by the smart grid community were extremely positive. It was therefore decided that the project inventory would be carried out on a regular basis so as to constantly update the picture of smart grid developments. This study is the 2013-2014 update of the inventory started out in 2011. The JRC’s 2013-14 Smart Grid database contains 459 smart grid R&D and D&D projects from all 28 European Union countries. Switzerland and Norway were studied together with the EU28 countries since they are present in a substantial number of projects with EU countries. Other 17 non EU countries are represented in the inventory by their participating organisations. The total investment of the smart grid projects amounts to €3.15 billion.JRC.F.3-Energy Security, Systems and Marke

A study on offshore wind farm siting criteria using a novel interval-valued fuzzy-rough based Delphi method

This study investigates the degree of importance of criteria affecting the optimal site selection of offshore wind farms. Firstly, forty two different influential criteria have been selected by reviewing the scientific literature on offshore wind farm site selection. Secondly, a survey has been conducted receiving a response from thirty four internationally renowned experts across seventeen countries. Each participant is asked to indicate the importance and relevance of each criterion based on their experience. Finally, the importance of each criterion for offshore wind farm site selection is determined using a novel Decision Making-Level Based Weight Assessment (LBWA) approach based on interval-valued fuzzy-rough numbers (IVFRN). The proposed method allows exploitation of the uncertainties and subjectivity that exist in the decision-making process. The results from this study improve our understanding of the importance and impact of each criterion which we believe would be invaluable for the future studies on the site selection of offshore wind farms

THE BALTIC POWER SYSTEM BETWEEN EAST AND WEST INTERCONNECTIONS

Due to historical and geographical reasons, the Baltic States are strongly connected to the power (electricity) transmission grids of Russia and Belarus. Current energy security and energy independence targets in the EU trigger seeking for alternative power sources for the Baltic. Knowing that, a power system model of the Baltic States has been developed and validated with the purpose of providing comparative options for a reliable and secure development of the Baltic electricity system. The analysis of horizon 2020 and 2030 showed that the dependency of Baltic States on the outside resources is fairly low, provided that the expansion of the electricity system goes as planned.JRC.F.3-Energy Security, Systems and Marke

Smart Grid Interoperability Laboratory

The Smart Grid Interoperability Laboratory in Petten was inaugurated on 29/11/2018. The Smart Grid Interoperability Laboratory is designed to foster a common European approach to interoperable digital energy, focussing on the smart home, community and city levels. The facility in Petten is part of a larger activity of the Joint Research Centre, as the science and knowledge service of the European Commission, encompassing electric vehicles, smart grids and batteries. The activities in 2019 are highlighted in this report.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

A European Platform for Distributed Real Time Modelling & Simulation of Emerging Electricity Systems

This report presents the proposal for the constitution of a European platform consisting of the federation of real-time modelling and simulation facilities applied to the analysis of emerging electricity systems. Such a platform can be understood as a pan-European distributed laboratory aiming at making use of the best available relevant resources and knowledge for the sake of supporting industry and policy makers and conducting advanced scientific research. The report describes the need for such a platform, with reference to the current status of power systems; the state of the art of the relevant technologies; and the character and format that the platform might take. This integrated distributed laboratory will facilitate the modelling, testing and assessment of power systems beyond the capacities of each single entity, enabling remote access to software and equipment anywhere in the EU, by establishing a real-time interconnection to the available facilities and capabilities within the Member States. Such an infrastructure will support the remote testing of devices, enhance simulation capabilities for large multi-scale and multi-layer systems, while also achieving soft-sharing of expertise in a large knowledge-based virtual environment. Furthermore the platform should offer the possibility of keeping confidential all susceptible data/models/algorithms, enabling the participants to determine which specific data will be shared with other actors. This kind of simulation platform will benefit all actors that need to take decisions in the power system area. This includes national and local authorities, regulators, network operators and utilities, manufacturers, consumers/prosumers. The federation of labs is created through real-time remote access to high-performance computing, data infrastructure and hardware and software components (electrical, electronic, ICT) assured by the interconnection of different labs with a server-cloud architecture where the local computers or machines interact with other labs through dedicated VPN (Virtual Private Network) over the GEANT network (the pan-European research and education network that interconnects Europe’s National Research and Education Networks ). The local VPN servers bridge the local simulation platform at each site and the cloud ensuring the security of the data exchange while offering a better coordination of the communication and the multi-point connection. It is then possible the integration of the different sub-systems (distribution grid, transmission grid, generation, market, and consumer behaviour) with a holistic approach

Smart Grid Interoperability Laboratory Petten Database

Live and historical data from the devices hosted in the Smart Grid Interoperability Lab Petten. Some examples: microgrids, solar panels, energy storage systems, smart home sensors, energy management systems, weather data, forecast data, electrical data etc.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market