European Project Seeks To Aid Renewable Energy Integration

Feb 13, 2013 - renewgrid.com

A dozen electricity distribution and research institutions have launched a project that aims to improve the reliability, stability and quality of the European electric distribution grid as it integrates larger amounts of renewable energy.

The initiative, called the iGREENGrid project, will last for three years and has been allocated a budget of 6.5 million euros. The project is headed by Iberdrola, with participation from ERDF (France), Enel (Italy), Gas Natural Fenosa (Spain), RWE (Germany), Energy AG Netz (Austria), Salzburg AG (Austria), HEDNO (Greece), AIT (Austria), Tecnalia (Spain), RSE (Italy) and ICCS-NTUA (Greece).

iGREENGrid will combine and coordinate research efforts made in leading initiatives carried out in this field in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Greece and Spain. The ultimate goal of the project is to define and pool procedures, technological advances and best practices that will contribute to increasing the capacity of electric grids to receive distributed generation from renewable energy sources.

iGREENGrid falls under the scope of one of the most crucial lines of research in the area of smart grids, Iberdrola says. In countries like Germany, generation from renewable energy sources and connected to medium- and low-voltage grids already accounts for more than 50 GW. In others, such as France, 99% of renewable energy is connected to the medium-voltage grid.