Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PROGRESSUS (Highly efficient and trustworthy electronics, components and systems for the next generation energy supply infrastructure)
Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2022-03-31
Progressus supports the European climate targets for 2030 by proposing a next generation smart grid, demonstrated by the application example “smart charging infrastructure” that integrates seamlessly into the already existing concepts of smart-grid architectures keeping additional investments minimal. The expected high-power requirements for ultra fast charging stations lead to special challenges for designing and establishing an intelligent charge-infrastructure. As emission free traffic concepts are a nascent economic topic also the efficient use of charging infrastructure is still in its infancy. Thus, novel sensor types, hardware security modules, inexpensive high bandwidth technologies and block-chain technology as part of an independent, extendable charging energy-management and customer platform are researched for a charging-station energy-microgrid. Research of new efficient high-power voltage converters, which support bidirectional power flow and provide a new type of highly economical charging stations with connected storage and metering platform to locally monitor the grid state complements the activities. The stations are intended to exploit the grid infrastructure via broadband power-line as communication medium, removing the need for costly civil engineering activities and supplying information to the energy management solutions for utilization optimization. Smart-Contracts via block-chain offer a distributed framework for the proposed energy management and services platform. Furthermore hardware security hardens the concept against direct physical attacks such as infiltration of the network by gaining access to the encryption key material even when a charging station is compromised. Progressus solutions are estimated to enable a carbon dioxide saving of 800.000 tons per year for only Germany, will secure the competitiveness of European industry and research by extending the system know how and will thus safeguard employment and production in Europe.
The PROGRESSUS project started on April 1 2020. In its first period, the requirements were determined based on four use cases, which PROGRESSUS aims for. Starting from that basis, the specifications of the devices and components were derived and the work towards the solutions was started as planned for all three areas: power conversion, energy management and metrology & monitoring. The progress was according to the plans, all deliverables were provided, all milestones achieved and the committed objectives were confirmed to be achievable. In the second period the implementation of the components and subsystems according to the results on requirements and specifications of the first period was the main activitiy. The implmentation made good progress and first prototypes as well as first tests on component/subsystem level could be performed and confirmed the set targets, e.g.:
a) The different bidirectional power converters are expected to achieve efficiencies as high as 97% and adopt wide bandgap semiconductors to increase power density. For the researched wireless power transfer solution multiple measures have been taken to ensure electromagnetic compatibility and human safety and their effectiveness has been confirmed by studies.
b) The energy management approaches are very promising, as, for example, grid topology estimators combined with utilization optimization approaches are expected to improve efficiency by more than a factor of two.
c) In the area of metrology & monitoring a security kit supporting blockchain based approaches for decentralized services and featuring the best security measures against hacks and attacks as anchor of trust for suppliers, customers and consumers was used in first prototype implementations, .
a) The different bidirectional power converters are expected to achieve efficiencies as high as 97% and adopt wide bandgap semiconductors to increase power density. For the researched wireless power transfer solution multiple measures have been taken to ensure electromagnetic compatibility and human safety and their effectiveness has been confirmed by studies.
b) The energy management approaches are very promising, as, for example, grid topology estimators combined with utilization optimization approaches are expected to improve efficiency by more than a factor of two.
c) In the area of metrology & monitoring a security kit supporting blockchain based approaches for decentralized services and featuring the best security measures against hacks and attacks as anchor of trust for suppliers, customers and consumers was used in first prototype implementations, .
It is expected that the solutions developed by PROGRESSUS will contribute significantly to the reduction of the peak demand from the distribution grid. Increased efficiency at the device and component level boost the system level efficiency while smart energy management algorithms match demand and supply. Both are facilitated by the activities on metrology & monitoring.
Evaluations of concepts and simulations done in the first period and, at the end of the second period, first validations and tests of prototypes confirmed the expected innovations, such as:
a) Power conversion: Novel topologies and use of wide bandgap semiconductors support efficiency improvements beyond 97% and power densities as high as 5kW/dm3.
b) Energy management: Grid topology estimators, auto-adaptive control approaches and adoption of AI to optimize the power flow.
c) Metrology & Monitoring: High bandwidth current sensing, energy efficient hardware based security supporting decentralized systems based on block chain, real-time monitoring supporting prediction based on AI approaches.
Therefore, the overall objective of a peak demand reduction from the grid of at least 30% is confirmed.
There is a potential of 252 million passenger cars in the European Union, 31 million vans, over 6 million trucks and 0,725 million buses (ACEA Report, Vehicles in use in Europe in 2017) of which a large amount can and has to be electrified. PROGRESSUS solutions pave the way to the mandatory powerful, affordable energy supply infrastructure. It is estimated to enable a greenhouse gas saving of 800.000 tons per year only for Germany.
According to Yole more energy efficient, reliable power electronics alone has the potential to reduce the world’s electricity consumption by some 20-30% by 2025. The envisioned high efficiency power converters are a key contribution to achieve these savings. Furthermore, innovative approaches like “Energy and Mobility as a Service” enabled by decentralized energy and grid management infrastructure promote the decarbonisation of the mobility and the increase of renewable energy sources (RESs) in the national energy mixes, resulting in a positive feedback in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility and Industrial Sustainability.
PROGRESSUS is based on a strong, experienced consortium with renowned Universities, Research Institutes, SMEs and Large Industry. The share of the contributions is well balanced across industry and research. The partners are well aligned to supply chains from component via device to system level with close relations to main European distribution system operators (DSOs). Additionally the partners cover the required application chains fully from the sensing over the power conversion to smart grid and plug and play network management. The composition of the partners and the complete coverage of the supply and application chain by the participants ensures excellent exploitation and dissemination capabilities for the expected innovations. It strengthens education, employment potential and market position of European companies and organizations in the key technology fields of semiconductor, power electronics and de-centralized networks for the next generation smart grid. Industrial partners expect increased employment in R&D and manufacturing. PROGRESSUS will accelerate the move to the next generation smart grid, illustrated for the application smart charging for e-mobility. Thus, PROGRESSUS helps to decrease primary energy demand and the dependency of the Europeans to non-European suppliers and at the same time pushes capabilities to implement the EU energy strategy 2030 and achieve its targets faster.
Evaluations of concepts and simulations done in the first period and, at the end of the second period, first validations and tests of prototypes confirmed the expected innovations, such as:
a) Power conversion: Novel topologies and use of wide bandgap semiconductors support efficiency improvements beyond 97% and power densities as high as 5kW/dm3.
b) Energy management: Grid topology estimators, auto-adaptive control approaches and adoption of AI to optimize the power flow.
c) Metrology & Monitoring: High bandwidth current sensing, energy efficient hardware based security supporting decentralized systems based on block chain, real-time monitoring supporting prediction based on AI approaches.
Therefore, the overall objective of a peak demand reduction from the grid of at least 30% is confirmed.
There is a potential of 252 million passenger cars in the European Union, 31 million vans, over 6 million trucks and 0,725 million buses (ACEA Report, Vehicles in use in Europe in 2017) of which a large amount can and has to be electrified. PROGRESSUS solutions pave the way to the mandatory powerful, affordable energy supply infrastructure. It is estimated to enable a greenhouse gas saving of 800.000 tons per year only for Germany.
According to Yole more energy efficient, reliable power electronics alone has the potential to reduce the world’s electricity consumption by some 20-30% by 2025. The envisioned high efficiency power converters are a key contribution to achieve these savings. Furthermore, innovative approaches like “Energy and Mobility as a Service” enabled by decentralized energy and grid management infrastructure promote the decarbonisation of the mobility and the increase of renewable energy sources (RESs) in the national energy mixes, resulting in a positive feedback in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility and Industrial Sustainability.
PROGRESSUS is based on a strong, experienced consortium with renowned Universities, Research Institutes, SMEs and Large Industry. The share of the contributions is well balanced across industry and research. The partners are well aligned to supply chains from component via device to system level with close relations to main European distribution system operators (DSOs). Additionally the partners cover the required application chains fully from the sensing over the power conversion to smart grid and plug and play network management. The composition of the partners and the complete coverage of the supply and application chain by the participants ensures excellent exploitation and dissemination capabilities for the expected innovations. It strengthens education, employment potential and market position of European companies and organizations in the key technology fields of semiconductor, power electronics and de-centralized networks for the next generation smart grid. Industrial partners expect increased employment in R&D and manufacturing. PROGRESSUS will accelerate the move to the next generation smart grid, illustrated for the application smart charging for e-mobility. Thus, PROGRESSUS helps to decrease primary energy demand and the dependency of the Europeans to non-European suppliers and at the same time pushes capabilities to implement the EU energy strategy 2030 and achieve its targets faster.