ERA-NET Smart Grids Plus

The challenges of modernising the electricity grids in Europe lies in enabling an increased flexibility of the European power system, efficiently providing increased transfer capacity and enabling an active participation of users and new market actors (by providing information, services, market architectures and privacy guarantees).

 

Addressing these challenges will require innovation and development in several areas such as system integration, interoperable technologies, services, tools, coordination schemes, business processes, market architectures and regulatory regimes. The purpose is to be able to plan, build, monitor, control and safely operate end-to-end networks in an open, competitive, decarbonised, sustainable and climate-change resilient market. Further, it is important that this is enabled under both normal and emergency conditions. Fragmentation of knowledge must also be addressed through accelerating knowledge exchange between demonstration projects and RD&D (Research, Development and Demonstration) initiatives, in order to develop of European wide interoperable solutions based common reference architecture. Overcoming these challenges will help realise the critical mass needed to establish a European market for smart grid technologies and services.

 

This initiative does not intend to find the final specifications for smart grids, but rather to organise learning down to regional smart grids stakeholders, beyond the piloting and demonstration phase contributing towards implementation. The overall goal of the ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus is to support deep knowledge-sharing between regional and European smart grids initiatives through financing transnational projects on applied research, piloting and demonstration in the field of smart grids, to build on the knowledge base of RD&D initiatives and R&D facilities in place at a regional, national and European level.