Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MEAN4SG (Metrology Excellence Academic Network for Smart Grids)

Teaser

Smart electricity grids are needed for integrating the massive increase of intermittent energy sources while managing the complex interactions between suppliers and customers that are challenging our energy networks. These distributed systems are difficult to optimise and very...

Summary

Smart electricity grids are needed for integrating the massive increase of intermittent energy sources while managing the complex interactions between suppliers and customers that are challenging our energy networks. These distributed systems are difficult to optimise and very vulnerable to instability. Therefore, the development of new technologies to monitor, control and operate electrical grids in normal and emergency conditions is critical for achieving the EU energy and environmental objectives.

The “Smart Grids Strategic Research Agenda 2035” indicates the need to begin now with smart grids research, innovation, development and deployment, aiming to create the basis for a high quality, economically affordable and sustainable electricity supply transition. In addition, the “Strategic Deployment Document for Europe’s Electricity Networks of the Future” points out the necessity to attract today’s students into the sector to meet the skills shortfall in order to attend the huge increase in capital spending and complexity of a Smart Grids society. The Roadmap on Education and Training of the SET Plan strongly asks for networks gathering stakeholders along the smart grid value chains, including universities and higher education institutions, research institutes, industry/business associations and companies in the field and recommends several actions promoting the establishment of high education programmes, at Master and PhD levels.

In this scenario, MEAN4SG is determined to answer these challenges educating 11 young researchers in the smart grids metrology field by constructing a sustainable training network gathering the whole innovation value chain. The network will constitute a core for world-class cluster of European research expertise in smart grids metrology, gathering reference experts in all the disciplines required, that includes electricity, electronics, mechanics, communication technologies, economic & finances, logistics, managerial aspects, etc.

The fellows will be trained while performing R&D projects, aiming to optimize the metrology of smart grids by means of and integrated research program focused in four scientific domains:
- Determination and further analysis of Power Quality parameters affecting active customers.
- Metrology for smart grids modelling and monitoring aiming to an accurate energy forecasting at low voltage levels.
- Cost-effective use of Phasor Measurements Units (PMUs) for advanced monitoring.
- Development of smart diagnosis tools for providing information about the state of the distribution grid infrastructure and its components.

Work performed

During the first period the MEAN4SG project focused its efforts on the recruitment of the eleven researchers, the scientific launching of their R&D research projects, and the design of the General Training Plan of the network together with the holding of the first project training activities.
Following the “European charter for Researchers” and “The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers”, 11 researchers coming from 9 different countries were selected among almost 300 applications coming from 21 different countries of Europe, Asia, America and Africa such as Turkey, Greece, India, Pakistan, and Colombia.

Every MEAN4SG fellow is benefiting from a wide range of training activities tailored to them by the beneficiaries and partner organizations according to their Personal Career Development Plans. Thus, all the recruited researchers are involved in PhD studies since the beginning of their enrolment and, apart from the day at day learning at their host institution, they are also participating in local workshops and courses to improve their skills in technical fields required to progress in the specific topics assigned such as electromagnetic compatibility, renewable energies and statistical software. Additionally, they are also benefiting from the training activities organized by the project under the General Training Plan of the network such as the Specifics Courses and the Summer Schools.

According to the level of progress of the fellows’ research projects, the 1st set of secondments is being carried out.

The first poster and oral presentations are also taking place when the researchers attending international conferences and workshops such as the UPEC (Greece, August 2017) and the CIRED (Scotland, June 2017) conferences.

Final results

The development of researchers aimed by MEAN4SG will provided them the required knowledge on a profession of the future. At the end of the training period, the fellows should (1) obtain a PhD degree, (2) be positioned as an expert on specific fields and on general research in the field of energy systems, (3) have acquired a solid background for the development of their research and technical career, (4) have developed skills in oral and writing communications through publishing in scientific journals and participating in public events, (4) be integrated in a network formed of experts coming from world-class entities in the field of smart grids metrology resulting from their interaction with industry and academia by the secondment periods, (5) gained experience in complementary capacities such as teambuilding, leadership, and scientific integrity.

The academic partners will work towards the sustainability of the training activities by performing a common feasibility study for the establishment of a joint European doctorate on smart grids metrology.

The current progress beyond the state of the art can be summarized in terms of four main objectives directly related with the four scientific work packages of the project. In this sense ESR1, ESR2 and ESR3 are focusing their efforts to identify how the different PQ disturbances affect active customers; ESR4, ESR5 and ESR6 are developing simulation tools, not only considering ideal static conditions but also the changes in power flows due to the high impact of the Distributed Generation concept (DG) on the Grid; ESR7 and ESR8 are dealing with the development of the Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) developing/improving hardware and/or software components and studying the applications in distribution networks; and finally ESR9, ESR10 and ESR11 are demonstrating the advantages of PD measurement and monitoring systems typically providing the network operator with improved safety, security, reliability of supply and optimization of asset management costs.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.mean4sg-itn.eu/.