Project description
Paradigm shift for improving EU renewable energy variability
Electric motor assets, including fans, compressors and pumps, account for over half of global electricity use because they are the driving force for many applications, such as heating and cooling, as well as key operations across nearly all industries and sectors. They represent an important untapped resource for balancing renewable energy variability in the EU at no additional cost. However, noise pollution, the processing of large datasets, and other challenges hinder progress. The ERC-funded ARTEFACT project aims to introduce a paradigm shift towards a fully decentralised framework that harnesses state-of-the-art edge computing, along with modern power electronic converters, to enable the self-quantification and aggregation of motor flexibility at scale.
Objective
Electric motor assets such as pumps, fans, and compressors—responsible for over half of global electricity use—represent a vast untapped flexibility resource capable of balancing entire EU renewable energy variability without any added cost. Yet, unlocking this potential presents unprecedented challenges: vast, noisy and diverse data generated by motors is difficult to process in real-time and further restricted by strict privacy regulations, making existing centralized, semi-manual approaches to flexibility quantification and aggregation fundamentally unsuitable.
ARTEFACT proposes a paradigm shift to a fully decentralized framework that harnesses advanced edge-computing in modern power electronic converters to enable motors to self-quantify and aggregate their flexibilities at scale. By rethinking fundamentals of machine learning and system identification, we introduce several key breakthroughs: 1) Reinventing ideas from experimental design theory to filter high-value signals from noise and enable efficient real-time learning in resource-constrained edge devices; 2) Combining physics-informed, offline-trained Bayesian priors with the novel concept of temporal posterior fusion, to robustly learn knowledge across various motor mission profiles and preventing catastrophic forgetting; 3) Developing new probabilistic flexibility envelopes to quantify flexibility with formal uncertainty bounds, while ensuring operational safety; 4) Establishing a fully decentralized aggregation mechanism that will enable millions of motors to self-organize and provide grid services with minimal central intervention, eliminating reliance on historical datasets and centralized processing, and aligning with strict data-privacy regulations.
By unlocking gigawatts of distributed flexibility, ARTEFACT will reduce EU dependence on fossil-fuel plants, avoid investments in grid infrastructure and batteries, yielding billions in annual savings while accelerating the transition to renewable energy.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2800 KONGENS LYNGBY
Denmark
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