The EU has committed to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in 2020 (with respect to 1990 levels) and 40% by 2030 and to reach a share of renewables of 20% by 2020 and 27% by 2030. The electricity network has a central role to play. In 2012, electricity represented 22% of EU 28 final energy consumption with a share of renewables of 24% in the gross production i.e. almost a 3% increase compared to 2011 (wind and solar: 8%). Owing to the increasing number of electric appliances, and the expected penetration of heat pumps and electric vehicles, this share is expected to increase while the share of renewables is expected to reach 50% by 2030. Modernizing the electricity grid and providing the energy system with increased flexibility to welcome more renewables will in turn naturally lead to the proliferation of PE in view of:
• ensuring the connection of electricity generators,
• converting electricity from DC to AC and conversely,
• connecting large electricity consumers
• smoothly controlling and operating the electric system using FACTS
Even if the balancing issues associated to a large penetration of intermittent generation are well understood and under control, there is now evidence, in several control zones of the EU that the pros of PE proliferation will no longer outrival the cons:
system instabilities, harmonic pollution and failing protection systems are amongst the most frequent issues already encountered in real life situations for which innovation solutions at system level must be studied, validated and implemented as soon as 2020.
MIGRATE is therefore the first European systemic attempt to address these issues with a portfolio of solutions which will initiate a long term migration of the existing system.
The MIGRATE project is a research and innovation action addressing a focused area of the EC LC6-2015 call work program: Methods and tools for emerging transmission technologies to increase transmission network flexibility, capacity and operational security as well as grid asset maintenance and management to mitigate the costs of grid reinforcement, operation, maintenance, replacement, upgrade and development in the presence of very large share of renewable generation integration of advanced power electronics technologies into subsystems that enhance available network capacity and flexibility.
This Project is a research and innovation action in which the innovation capacity of all the participants (TSOs, manufacturers and research providers) will be improved since developing a systemic approach of the impacts of PE proliferation onto System dynamics: it integrates new scientific knowledge on transmission system dynamics, gained for example from hardware in the loop simulations or dynamic simulation of complex transmission systems.
The research and innovation capacity of participants (research centers, EU-28 TSOs, and private companies) will be further enhanced thanks to the development of innovative technical solutions integrating the above new knowledge, which will be developed and tested during the project, in particular with regards to technology supporting the novel grid connection rules, and novel grid protection mechanisms. This is a fantastic opportunity to address the challenges and share the learning at EC level, by performing research and developing solutions. The project was therefore jointly designed to make full use of the existing knowledge across Europe, to have a step-change to develop methods and tools which can be equipped by all
European TSOs. At the end of the project, the project partners will have developed internally the necessary knowledge but also know-how with respect to the solutions proposed by the individual WPs. In other words: The TSOs and private companies will be able to make the next steps towards the large scale deployment of the proposed countermeasures.
Furthermore, the MIGRATE project is in line with the research and innovation topic described in the implementation plan of ENTSO-E 2015, i.e. Topic 1-2015: Inertia, Control and Protection of Large Power Systems with a Large Amount of Inverter- Based Components (TSO).
