review

1 Project participants
Growing penetration of renewables
across Europe’s distribution
grid over the past few
decades has led to growing
challenges in maintaining the stability
and reliability of the grid. Looking ahead,
the European Commission (EC) has a
goal to meet at least 40 percent of the
continent’s demand for electrical power
with renewables by 2030. To achieve this
ambitious target, DSOs will need to
make major changes to the way they run
their networks.
Recognizing this, the EC brought together
six major DSOs along with 21 specialist
technology firms and academic partners
under the Grid4EU project. It was
the largest smart grid project funded by
the EC to date and one in which ABB
played a major role as an equipment provider
and system developer. Grid4EU is
shorthand for a “large-scale demonstration
of advanced smart grid solutions
Title picture
The Grid4EU project helped the participants better
understand the challenges associated with the
future evolution of the European power grid.
with wide replication and scalability potential”
and its ultimate goal was to test
the potential for smart grids in Europe
and lay the foundations for large-scale
roll-out of smart grid technology.
During the project, each of the six DSOs
worked with partners to evaluate the reallife
performance of different smart grid technologies
in a variety of climates, grid topologies,
population densities and regulatory
conditions but also to assess issues like
scalability, replicability and cost benefits.
The project adopted a systemic approach
to test, in real life and size, how DSOs
can dynamically
manage electricity
supply and
demand. Such
control is crucial
for the integration
of large
amounts of renewable
energy
and empowers
consumers to
become active participants in their energy
choices. Ultimately, tested solutions
should increase the network’s efficiency,
reliability, flexibility, and resilience ➔ 1.
The project was structured to take into
account the following limitations:
− Existing networks consist of long-life
assets and equipment that cannot be
removed or easily upgraded.
− In Europe, the technical, economical,
societal and regulatory contexts for
distribution grids vary significantly from
country to country.
The following provides a technical description
of the three demonstrators in which
ABB was involved. In addition, three other
demonstrators were undertaken – under
the leadership of Iberdrola, ENEL and
ERDF – in which other technological aspects
were implemented. In addition, the project
included a number of general work
packages where issues like scalability,
replicability and cost benefits were investigated.
For more information on these,
The EC brought together
six major DSOs along with
21 specialist technology firms
and academic partners under
the Grid4EU project.
and details of the ABB demonstrations and
the general work packages, please refer
to the Grid4EU website (www.grid4eu.eu)
and the Grid4EU Final Report.
Demonstrator 1
The principle behind Demonstrator 1 was
that by increasing automation on the mediumvoltage
(MV) network, the grid will be able
to reconfigure itself to optimize operations.
Grid4EU
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