PROJECTS
QUANTUM METROLOGY PROJECT (Jun/2024 - Dec/2025)
This project aims to research the accuracy improvement technology using a
quantum voltage chip, to obtain a reference AC voltage to calibrate metering
devices. It also includes the research on error monitoring methods of digital
metering equipment driven by high accuracy measurement data.
R&D Nester will setup the Quantum Voltage Platform that includes a 10 V PJVS - Programmable Josephson Voltage Standard array chip, Cryoprobe, Dewar with Liquid Helium and Microwave source, for the reference voltage source.
The Digital Metering Platform provided by CEPRI will be installed at the R&D NESTER Lab, to evaluate the error of metering equipment (analogue and digital) on short and long term. A machine learning model will be developed to predict this error.
U2-DEMO PROJECT (Sep/2024 - Feb/2028)
U2Demo - Use of open-source P2P energy sharing platforms for
energy DEMOcratization
The U2Demo project aims to advance the field of peer-to-peer (P2P) trading and energy sharing by introducing innovative, user-centric management strategies that foster widespread consumer participation in these mechanisms. The proposed strategies will engage active consumers, also referred to as prosumers, and promote equitable and democratic access to sustainable energy resources. These strategies will be seamlessly integrated into open-source tools and platforms adhering to principles of agnosticism, interoperability, scalability, replicability, reliability, security, and trust.
The tools and platforms will undergo rigorous testing through four pilot projects, including a Portuguese pilot in Évora, enabling the evaluation of advanced P2P trading and energy-sharing methodologies, the identification of optimal implementation conditions, and the consolidation of the most promising solutions and corresponding business models. The pilots will take place in four Energy Communities (ECs), each with distinct characteristics and governance models.
P2P trading and energy-sharing tools will take into account
existing services managed by system operators, such as local electricity
markets, demand response mechanisms (both implicit and explicit), and dynamic
capacity and price contracts. Enhanced coordination with system operators will
be proposed, including the exchange of information on P2P trading results and
the reciprocal sharing of grid utilization factors by both Distribution System
Operators (DSOs) and Transmission System Operators (TSOs). Furthermore,
decision-support algorithms will facilitate consumer/prosumer participation in
wholesale markets and system services, fostering negotiation and collaboration
among peers and stakeholders to maximize operational advantages within the
communities.
All information exchanges, offers, contracts, and
coordination developed in the P2P trading and energy-sharing tools will adhere
to existing standards (as well as those under development) and will be executed
using blockchain/distributed ledger technologies. This approach ensures the
trustworthiness and traceability of all actions carried out within P2P trading,
which is essential to foster consumer engagement.
Lastly, social equity considerations will be integrated into the P2P mechanism, with the primary objective of alleviating energy poverty and democratizing access to sustainable energy resources. This multifaceted approach encompasses technological innovation, regulatory alignment, and a commitment to social equality, culminating in a holistic strategy that achieves its greatest impact when P2P trading is managed within ECs. Through this, the project aims to support the broader goals of the energy transition, ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth.
ECLIPSE PROJECT (Sep/2024 - Aug/2026)
Implementation and demonstration of the Common European Reference Framework (CERF) for energy consumers applications across the EU.
Digital technologies solutions for energy
monitoring have enormous potential for increasing energy efficiency and load
shifting, avoiding grid unbalances and consecutives selective power cuts.
Nowadays, there are several end-user applications and platforms that provide
more control of the energy usage, providing information to final consumers about
the necessary changes in their habits and strategies on a voluntary basis, to
reduce their energy consumption and increase grid flexibility and stability.
The objective of ECLIPSE project is the implementation and demonstration of the Common European Reference Framework (CERF) for energy consumers applications across the EU, enabling voluntary energy consumption reductions and load shifting, based on recommendations, strategies, and incentives, promoting sustainable energy consumption behaviour and empowerment of final consumers.
ECLIPSE project will define a set of rules and conditions for the development of new energy consumers applications and to improve of existing ones. These applications will provide to the final consumers with simple, useful and user-friendly information on energy savings, and broader benefits (such as a reduction in CO2 and other financial and social incentives) and at the same time reinforcing the stability and resilience of electricity grids, by means of consumer flexibility (e.g., through smart EV-charging, shifting heating loads, self-consumption, etc.).
The project solutions will be deployed and demonstrated in 16 EU countries, being potentially replicated across the whole European Union, ensuring interoperability with third-party systems, while respecting the current regulatory framework and any existing competitive application offerings.
TWIN-EU PROJECT (Jan/2024 - Dec/2026)
The current international
situation makes the process of energy transition more critical for Europe than
ever before. It is a key requirement to increase the penetration of renewables
while aiming at making the infrastructure more resilient and cost-effective. In
this context, digital twins (DT) build a key asset to facilitate all aspects of
business and operational coordination for system operators and market parties.
It is of fundamental importance to now start a process of agreement at European level so not to develop isolated instances but a federated ecosystem of DT solutions. Each operator should be able to make its own implementation decisions while preserving and supporting interoperability and exchange with the remaining ecosystem. Exactly this is the vision of the TwinEU consortium: enabling new technologies to foster an advanced concept of DT while determining the conditions for interoperability, data and model exchanges through standard interfaces and open APIs to external actors.
The envisioned DT will build the kernel of European data exchange supported by interfaces to the Energy Data Space under development. Advanced modeling supported by AI tools and able to exploit High Performance Computing infrastructure will deliver an unprecedented capability to observe, test and activate a pan-European digital replica of the European energy infrastructure. In this process, reaching consensus is crucial: the consortium therefore gathers an unprecedented number of actors committed to achieving this common goal.
The concepts developed by TwinEU span over 15 different European countries with a continuous coverage of the continental map. Demos will encompass key players at every level from transmission to distribution and market operators, while also testing the coordinated cross-area data exchange. The consortium also includes relevant industry players, research institutions and associations with a clear record in developing innovative solutions for Europe.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101136119.
HEDGE-IoT PROJECT (Nov/2023 - Apr/2027)
Supporting the green
and digital transformation of the energy ecosystem and enhancing its resilience
through the development and piloting of AI-IoT Edge-Cloud and platform
solutions.
HEDGE-IoT project proposes a novel Digital Framework which aims to deploy IoT assets at different levels of the energy system (from behind-the-meter, up to the TSO level), to add intelligence to the edge and cloud layers through advanced AI/ML tools and to bridge the cloud/edge continuum introducing federated applications governed by advanced computational orchestration solutions.
The HEDGE-IoT Framework will upgrade the RES-hosting capacity of the energy systems and will unleash a previously untapped flexibility potential. It will increase the resilience of the grid, create new market opportunities and promote advances in IoT standardization, by introducing and managing a plethora of diversified, interoperable energy services over scalable and highly distributed data platforms and infrastructure.
The multi-dimensional framework of HEDGE-IoT comprises the following pillars:
a) the Technology Facilitator Pillar will exploit the computational sharing by offloading applications on the grid edge, towards providing a set AI/ML federated learning and swarm computing applications;
b) the Interoperability Pillar, which leverages on leading-edge interoperable architectures, such as the Data Space architectures;
c) the Standardisation Pillar will enable all involved platforms, systems, tools and actors to seamlessly communicate and exchange data in standardized formats using widely used standards, such as SAREF, etc.;
d) the Digital Energy Ecosystem Enabling Pillar will ensure the creation of an ecosystem facilitating the increased integration of RES and characterised by resilience.
Liaisons with EU initiatives for IoT and digitalisation will be established (e.g., the AIOTI) and the engagement of stakeholders will be ensured by addressing IoT ethics and cultivating trust among end-users, thus promoting inclusivity. Scalability and replicability studies will be performed and connections with innovators and SMEs will be established through the Open Call mechanism of the project.
Grid4Energy PROJECT (Oct/2023 - Jun/2024)
Grid4Energy project aims to develop a more in-depth knowledge of the reception capacity available in the Portuguese transmission network (RNT), particularly for the reception of new generation based on renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, taking into account the capacities already allocated in recent auctions.
The project aims to
analyse the current state and the evolution of the development of the RNT, as
well as the licenses already allocated to new renewable generation, taking into
account the criteria and scenarios which are considered by the transmission
network operator in its most recent Development and Investment Plan for the
Electricity Transmission Network (PDIRT-e), in the Security of Supply
Monitoring Report (RMSA) and in the National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC)
exploring the potential connection capacity available for new connections for
the 2025 horizon.
This study will be carried out taking into account the expected evolution of the RNT, always taking into consideration the most recent PDIRT-e, RMSA and PNEC, as well as other information made public by the Portuguese government. Starting from a model developed for RNT 2025, a study will be carried out on the evolution of RNT for the 2030 horizon, based on the scenarios defined in the PDIRT, RMSA and PNEC and analysis of future opportunities for RNT reception capacity.
WeForming PROJECT (Oct/2023 - Sep/2026)
WeForming is at the
forefront of transforming energy management in buildings, focusing on seamless
integration with the energy ecosystem. Through groundbreaking solutions, this
EU project addresses digital operation, management, and maintenance, along with
efficient and interactive energy processing for Intelligent Grid-Forming
Buildings (iGFBs).
WeForming, an acronym for Buildings as Efficient Interoperable Formers of Clean Energy Ecosystems, envisions a revolutionary approach to managing energy, one in which buildings are strategic players in supporting and forming the energy networks of the future. At the heart of WeForming's value proposition are iGFBs, actively participating in an interoperable energy ecosystem, including both energy networks and markets. These innovative buildings are designed to seamlessly integrate various energy sources, such as electrical, thermal, mechanical, and chemical energy. Their main goal is to optimize efficiency and self-sufficiency while prioritizing occupants' well-being, enhancing comfort, convenience and safety.
The ultimate mission
of WeForming is to establish iGFBs as integral elements in shaping a secure,
resilient, and carbon-free energy ecosystem. Over the next three years, the
EU-funded project will develop and demonstrate a new generation of iGFBs that
leverage advanced technologies and smart energy processing to innovate building
energy operations, involving all the participants in the energy building value
chain (consumers, aggregators, grid operators, etc.) in a common digital space.
This approach will lead to increased multidirectional data flows, with the
creation of new digital platforms and operational strategies. Artificial
intelligence and machine learning will be key to WeForming's framework,
ensuring automation and interactivity.
A multidisciplinary approach:
WeForming's methodology and digital solutions will be implemented and validated in six real-life demos across six countries. These use cases will target different systems, building types, consumer needs, economic conditions and climates, providing a comprehensive assessment and adaptability across different scenarios:
- Luxembourg - Demo 1: A Multi-energy Grid-Interactive District with a Large Fleet of Electric Vehicles.
- Portugal - Demo 2: A Large Commercial Shopping Mall with Internal Power Generation, and Energy Storage Systems.
- Croatia - Demo 3: Grid-Supporting Renewable Districts on a Holiday Island with Large Seasonal Demand Variation.
- Belgium - Demo 4: An Interactive Residential District with Bidirectional Power-to-Heat and Thermal Storage Capabilities.
- Spain - Demo 5: Grid Supporting Rural Renewable Energy Community.
- Germany - Demo 6: Energy Market-Driven Multi-Sector Smart District.
Comprising 30 partner
entities from 10 countries, the WeForming project addresses the challenges of
improving the interoperability between energy carriers, creating new roles and
business models for buildings in energy markets, boosting buildings' physical
interaction with energy networks, and fostering awareness and acceptance of
iGFBs.
The WeForming project is an innovation action funded by the European Union through the Horizon Europe Programme.
For more information:
Aggregation PROJECT (Nov/2022 - Dec/2024)
The project aims at characterise
the aggregation of distributed energy resources, develop the aggregation
terminal for distributed flexibility energy resources, and built an application
of the aggregation of distributed energy resources in the European market, by
developing appropriate models and modules for simulation in closed-loop with
hardware, in the loop in order to validate the functions of the developed
technology.
V2Grid PROJECT (Nov/2022 - Dec/2024)
The V2Grid project aims to study the impact of
electric vehicles, namely through their ability to interact with other elements
of the electrical system, V2X (Vehicle-to-X), taking into consideration their
use for the promotion of the integration of renewable energy sources (RES)
through their participation in market environments adapted to these services.
The project aims to study the behavior of electric
vehicles and stablish market and business models (e.g. system services) that
make it possible to value the existing flexibility in this type of asset.
PRR – Next Generation Storage PROJECT (Nov/2022 - Dec/2025)
The NGS project will contribute to enhance the battery
sector in Portugal by improving the Portuguese skills in 5 pillars:
I. Valorisation and advanced refining
II. Cell modules and components
III. Battery pack assembly
IV. Integration and applications
V. Recycling and battery second life
R&D Nester main contribution is within the pillar IV. Integration and applications, namely by addressing the system and market integration of distributed storage within the Business Project "Optimized distributed storage for energy communities". This Business Project aims at achieving the following specific objectives:
1. Development and validation under real world conditions of the integration of decentralised batteries in Energy Communities and, furthermore, in the national energy system and markets;
2. Management of the distributed energy storage by a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Management Platform;
3. Strengthen the partners' positions in the Energy Storage and Communities sectors, not only in the Portuguese market, where they already occupy a differentiated position, but in other markets, such as Spain, England, USA and Brazil.
For more information: https://newgenstorage.pt/
SYNERGY – INTERCAST PROJECT (Jul/2022 - Mar/2023)
In
order to advance the deployment of intelligent and innovative energy
services, the SYNERGY project established an innovative and scalable reference
architecture and implementation for a Big Energy Data Platform and AI Analytics
Marketplace, accompanied by big data-enabled domain specific applications for
the totality of electricity value chain stakeholders (altogether comprising the
SYNERGY Big Data-driven Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) Framework).
INTERCAST is a response to an Open
Call from the SYNERGY project and it aims to provide a technical solution for
the forecast of short term (24h timeframe) energy flows in interfaces along the
electricity delivery chain. This is particularly relevant for the substations
that form the interfaces between TSO, DSO and Consumers.
The increasing amount of RES
generation and active consumers and prosumers connected in distribution
networks can have major impacts on energy flows at different levels (TSO, DSO
and Consumer), resulting in possible reverse flows.
In this context, operational planning departments need to have adequate and accurate tools that allow to predict not only load at system level, but also at nodal level, including the forecast of reverse flows. INTERCAST project aims to develop such a tool and validate it with operational data, both from SYNERGY project and also using own datasets. This solution encompasses the full value chain, from TSO to consumer side.
ENERSHARE PROJECT (Jul/2022 - Jun/2025)
Funded by the Horizon Europe program, the ENERSHARE project is formed by a consortium of 29 partners from around the European Union.
The overall vision of ENERSHARE is to develop and demonstrate a European Common Energy Data Space which will deploy an ‘intra-energy' and ‘cross-sector' interoperable and trusted Energy Data Ecosystem Private for consumers, businesses (energy and non-energy) stakeholders and regulated operators that will be able to access, share and reuse data, based upon voluntary agreements or legal obligations where such obligations are in force, including: (a) Large sources of currently fragmented and dispersed data; (b) Data-driven cross-value chain (energy and non-energy) services and Digital Twins for various purposes.
ENERSHARE will leverage on, incorporate and adapt to the energy sector the Data Commons systems paradigm (i.e. Data Spaces, Data Pools), which co-locate data, storage and computing infrastructures with commonly used services and tools for analysing and sharing data to create an interoperable resource.
The project
will be demonstrated along 7 pilots in 7 countries and 11 intra-electricity,
intra-energy and beyond-energy use cases.
The participation of R&D Nester is mostly related with:
- Leading WP7 for the development of the Governance and Business Models for the Energy Data Space;
- Leading task 9.2 for the management of the demonstration of the electricity-related pilots from Spain (Pilot 1), Portugal (Pilot 2), Italy (Pilot 5) and Finland (Pilot 6)
- Leading the first Use-Case of Portuguese Pilot, for the demonstration of the value of data-sharing in the Energy Data Space aligned with the vision of Transmission System Operators, namely by taking advantage of the Portuguese demo site of "Living Lab" from the Smart Energy Lab (PT), and the respective availability of behind-the-meter data from end-users.
GREENPORT PROJECT (Nov/2021 - Dec/2023)
The main goal of the project is to research
in the scope of the electrification of ships in the Ports and all technical
aspects that this operation involves. The study involves the load operation
characteristics of multiple scenarios and multiple types of ships considering
the satisfaction of charging demand as well as the development of a shore power
pile energy router topology and its control strategy for new energy access to
port shore power.
The project aims to research the centralized monitoring, data sharing and interactive services of port-shore circuits and propose a software platform design for coordinated and stable operation of multi-energy energy supply. It is also aimed to study the main influencing factors of port shore-to-power operating costs based on the analysis of the difference between China-Europe port's shore-to-shore power operating modes and to study green Port shore power operation economic benefit evaluation method and multi-objective comprehensive evaluation index system.
Prot4HiRES PROJECT (Nov/2021 - Oct/2023)
The high penetration of renewable sources in transmission
grids may have a negative impact on the performance of protection systems for these
infrastructures, as these protections have been designed for grids supplied by
conventional power stations, where synchronous generators are used.
However, renewable sources use generators with interfaces based on power electronics, which characteristics differ from those of synchronous generators.
This project aims to identify the potential problems resulting from the introduction of renewable sources on the protection functions and, using laboratory simulation, determine what changes are necessary to the current philosophies of parameterization and coordination of those functions.
The final result will be a detailed specification for protection systems for transmission grids with a high penetration of renewable sources.
FEVER “EV STORAGE” PROJECT [Oct/2021 – Oct/2023]
The proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) in Portugal and
Europe has been increasing in recent years. Particularly, distribution networks
are facing multiple challenges from the integration of multiple distributed
resources, coordination of distributed renewable energy sources (RES), as well
as the impact of emerging electric vehicle fast charging stations (EVCS) and
battery energy storage systems (BESS) operation.
The activities considered in this project will be focused on
the research of relevant topics which have direct impact on the overcoming of
the challenges that distribution grids are facing. The research topics will
include EV and EV charging infrastructure development trend, distributed
renewable energy resources, EV charging stations, from the distribution network
perspective. This project will also take into consideration policies and
regulations for electric vehicles, including interaction between EV and the
energy system (V2G or V4ES). Additionally, these research activities will
address challenges for both planning and operation of distribution side RES,
EVCS, BESS. The proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) in Portugal and Europe
has been increasing in recent years. Particularly, distribution networks are
facing multiple challenges from the integration of multiple distributed
resources, coordination of distributed renewable energy sources (RES), as well
as the impact of emerging electric vehicle fast charging stations (EVCS) and
battery energy storage systems (BESS) operation.
The activities considered in this project will be focused on
the research of relevant topics which have direct impact on the overcoming of
the challenges that distribution grids are facing. The research topics will
include EV and EV charging infrastructure development trend, distributed
renewable energy resources, EV charging stations, from the distribution network
perspective. This project will also take into consideration policies and
regulations for electric vehicles, including interaction between EV and the
energy system (V2G or V4ES). Additionally, these research activities will
address challenges for both planning and operation of distribution side RES,
EVCS, BESS.
RESUCIDEMO PROJECT [Jan/2021 – Sep/2022]
Building on the RESUCI project, the RESUCIDEMO deploys
pilot project to demonstrate the application of the RESUCI satellite-based
services for supporting resilient and sustainable critical infrastructures.
Since the beginning of the RESUCI project, REN - the Portuguese system operator for electricity and gas, is a stakeholder and provides inputs for service development.
The pilots will leverage the engagement of REN and the ICNF to demonstrate the application in their infrastructures and the delivery through integration with the end-users' systems of the following services:
- Service 1 - Right of Way monitoring for obstacles and activity detection: This service provides remote regular updated characterization of the land use in the right-of-way for risk assessment. It supports the energy expert system for critical infrastructure risk categorization.
- Service 2 - Field maintenance operations management and control: This service provides remote and automatic control of fuel management activities with visual evidence. It supports the energy expert system for planning and control of fuel management operations.
This project is co-funded by ESA - European space agency.
https://business.esa.int/projects/resuci-demo
BD4NRG PROJECT [Jan/2021 – Dec/2023]
The
need of increasing levels of information to operate the power systems is
unveiling an enormous opportunity for energy stakeholders to leverage on big
data & AI technologies to improve decision making.
In that respect the project BD4NRG that involves 35 partners from 12 countries will in short:
- Deliver a reference architecture to enable B2B multi-party data exchange, while providing full interoperability of leading-edge big data technologies with smart grid standards and operational frameworks;
- Deliver a TRL8 open modular big data analytic toolbox (data, computing resources, models, algorithms);
- Deliver predictive and prescriptive edge AI-based big data analytics on 13 large scale pilots, deployed by different energy stakeholders (e.g. TSOs and DSOs, aggregators, local energy communities, ESCOs, etc), covering the energy value chain
R&D Nester together with REN (Portuguese TSO) will develop proof-of-concept solutions to support two assets that are critical for the performance of the power systems:
- Condition-based maintenance of circuit breakers taking into account different operational conditions
- Generate a semi-automatic maintenance plan for overhead lines from inspection data
Project website: https://www.bd4nrg.eu/
This project has received
funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation
programme under grant agreement No 872613.
I-NERGY PROJECT [Jan/2021 – Dec/2023]
AI spreading in the energy sector is expected to dramatically reshape energy value chain in the next years, by improving business processes performance, while increasing environmental sustainability, strengthening social relationships and propagating high social value among citizens.
I-NERGY aims at evolving, scaling up and demonstrating innovative AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) Energy Analytics Applications and digital twins services that will be validated along 9 pilots, which range from optimised management of grid and non-grid RES assets, improved efficiency and reliability of electricity networks operation, optimising local and virtual energy communities involvement in flexibility and green energy marketplaces.
I-NERGY involves 17 partners from 10 countries and will deliver in short:
- new AI-based energy services, fully aligned with AI4EU service requirements;
- an open modular framework for supporting AI-on-Demand in the energy sector by capitalising on state-of-the-art AI, IoT, semantics, analytics tools, which leverage on edge-level AI-based cross-sector multi-stakeholder sovereignty and regulatory preserving interoperable data handling.
R&D Nester is participating developing two use cases addressing the following topics:
- Asset management and predictive maintenance with specific focus on circuit breakers;
- Network loads and demand forecasting for operational planning timeframe.
Project website: https://i-nergy.eu/
Project LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/i-nergy-h2020/about/
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101016508.
MarCo PROJECT [Nov/2020 - Jul/2022]
This project studies the history, operation status, coordination relationship, existing problems and future development trends of spot markets in major European regions and in the internal European market for electricity.
The project researches the trading mechanism of the SDAC (Single Day-Ahead Coupling) and SIDC (Single Intraday Coupling), including the quotation mode, declaration mechanism, clearing mechanism and settlement mechanisms, together with the system operator processes enabling the price coupling of regions.
The project builds a security constrained market model
and designs a simulation addressing the congestion management mechanisms in the
internal European market for electricity.
OneNET PROJECT [Oct/2020 - Mar/2024]
OneNet (One Network for Europe) - "TSO-DSO Consumer: Large-scale demonstrations of innovative grid
services through demand response, storage and small-scale (RES)
generation", it is an Innovation Action
addressing the following objectives:
- creating the conditions for a new
generation of grid services able to fully exploit demand response, storage
and distributed generation while creating fair, transparent and open
conditions for the consumer
- build a customer centric approach to grid
operation by proposing new markets, products and services and by creating
a unique IT architecture
The concept
proposed by OneNet is tested and implemented in 4 geographical cluster demos
This 3-year
project lasts from October 2020 to September 2023. It counts with the
participation of 72 partners, where, amid many others, R&D NESTER, REN and
EDP Distribuição are from Portugal.
The project is
financed in scope of the H2020 program.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
High Speed Carrier PROJECT [Jan/2020 - Oct/2021]
Investigate on the applicability, interoperability and compliance testing of IEEE 1901.1 Power Line Carrier Standard.
Create a laboratory environment for the testing of IEEE1901.1 application scenarios, including a plug-in approach for testing of IEEE1901.1 compatible hardware (emission and reception hardware). The created environment will allow simulating communication using this standard under different load conditions and in different conductor lengths.
Create a simulation environment, using a discrete event communication networks simulator to test physical (PHY) and media access control (MAC) layers characteristics of IEEE1901.1 and evaluate the protocol performance using parameters such as signal to noise ratios, error rates, and channel delays, allowing a direct comparison with other existing PLC protocols (e.g. PRIME).
Integrated Energy Systems PROJECT [Jan/2020 - Nov/2022]
The objective of this project is to research the technologies for comprehensive energy system considering cross-border interactions. It will be carried out at four levels: the system modeling and security analysis, the planning and collaborative operation, the dispatching and market transactions, the establishing and application verification of the control prototype system, respectively.
In this prototype system, three scenarios are chosen to carry out the research of novel cross-border energy system which mainly includes power, natural gas, heat (cold). The first scenario is the distributed energy network of "Altay-Khovd" between China and Mongolia, which includes the wind, solar, storage and heat energy. The second scenario is the power-gas combined network of "Portugal-Spain" and the third is the distributed energy system of "UAE-Oman" which includes solar, refrigeration and desalination.
This project is "the Belt and Road" international cooperation project supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.
Wind Forecasting PROJECT [Jan/2020 - Oct/2022]
Research on the short-term wind power forecasting with ensemble learning methods based on the multi-source heterogeneous data.
Analysis of the Multi-source Heterogeneous Data for Wind Power Forecasting and Abnormal Data Processing Methods.
Study on Data Fusion Technology and Short-term Wind Power Forecasting Method Based on the Multi-source Heterogeneous Data.
Exploration on the Ensemble Learning Method for Improving the Accuracy and Robustness of the Short-term Wind Power Forecasting.
UltraFOR PROJECT [Jan/2020 - Oct/2021]
Investigate cloud recognition methods based on all sky imager data. Research about cloud height calculation based on two all sky imagers.
Study different types of clouds and their effect on the radiation in the PV modules. Develop a cloud index including the above-mentioned methods.
Apply the clearance persistence model to the solar forecast to optimize results.
Elaborate a case study including all developments made in the project.
FleXunity PROJECT [Oct/2019 - May/2022]
The objective of FleXunity project is to deploy novel services for retailers and aggregators, enhanced by Virtual Power Plant (VPP) technology empowered with AI algorithms focused on minimizing the cost of energy (bought in the wholesale market) and optimizing the use of distributed renewables from the utility or community portfolio.
The proposed energy community approach will promote active participation of end-users (community members) valuating their flexibility and energy sharing actions, which will be supported by secure transaction mechanisms with technologies such as blockchain to validate energy transactions.
These services will include a tariff structure optimisation design for the Energy Community to be able to meet the needs of the system operator by aggregating the flexibility to participate in balancing and ancillary services markets as a Balance Service Provider (BSPs).
The key project outcomes will be achieved by testing and demonstrating the proposed services in two distinct pilots with very different market conditions: UK energy market (open mature market concerning the use of demand side flexibility); Iberia energy market (in transformation - opening to use flexibility from demand-side).
Given the nonexistence of a common legal framework across Europe, this will help us to validate different stakeholder benefits in closed and open energy markets, which will enhance the full commercial roll-out after this 2-year project.
These envisaged innovative services will allow utilities to maximize their profit and enable new business models from managing multiple energy flexibility assets, introducing flexibility as a new tradable asset in their business portfolios, and allow energy costs savings sharing with end-users, enhancing the use of renewables and support energy security and climate change challenges.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/flexunity/
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870146.
INTERPRETER PROJECT [Oct/2019 - Oct/2022]
INTERPRETER main objective is the implementation of a modular grid management solution consisting of a set of 10 software applications for an optimal design, planning, operation and maintenance of the electricity grid - with a special focus on the distribution network - that will be offered to grid operators through an open-source interoperable platform. These tools will support DSOs and TSOs to move from a traditional grid management approach to an active system management approach, considering the rapid deployment of distributed energy resources as well as growing environmental concerns.
The project includes an ambitious validation phase, in which the solutions will be tested in 3 pilots in Belgium, Denmark and Spain, thus ensuring a high replicability across Europe.
https://www.interpreter-h2020.eu/
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 864360.
FlexPlan PROJECT [Oct/2019 - Mar/2023]
FlexPlan aims at creating a new tool for optimizing transmission and distribution grid planning, considering the placement of flexibility elements as an alternative to traditional grid planning. This approach aims at helping to reduce overall power system costs i.e. infrastructure deployment and operation costs, the latter in terms of procurement of energy and system services.
FlexPlan is going to take into account environmental impact and footprint (impact on air quality for thermal generation, carbon footprint, impact on landscape of new T&D lines).
The new planning tool is first validated and then used for analysing six detailed regional scenarios (at European level) at 2030-2040-2050 in order to assess the potential role of storage and flexible resources.
https://flexplan-project.eu/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/flexplan-project/about/
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 863819.
GIFT PROJECT [Jan/2019 - Dec/2022]
The GIFT project is an innovation action aiming at decarbonise the energy mix of European islands. European islands have to abide by the law of their countries that push toward a greener energy mix to comply with the European and international agreements. GIFT is willing to develop innovative systems to allow islands to integrate vast amount of renewables.
In order to reach that goal, GIFT will develop multiple innovative solutions, such as a virtual power system, energy management systems for harbours, factories and homes, better prediction of supply and demand and visualisation through a GIS platform, as well as innovative storage systems, allowing synergy between electrical, heating and transportation networks. GIFT will increase the penetration rate of renewable energy sources into the islands' grid, reducing their needs for diesel generation and thus decreasing the greenhouse gases emissions directly related to it.
The GIFT project has started to build a replication board with associations that already gather 1640 European islands able to study the replication for their territories.
During 4 years, the partners will develop and demonstrate the solutions in two lighthouse islands, in Hinnøya, Norway's largest island and the small island of Procida in Italy and study the replicability of the solution in a Greek and Italian islands at the minimum, respectively Evia and Favignana. The complementarity of these islands in terms of climate, energy mix, population and activities is meant to have solutions adaptable to different situations.
The consortium gathers 17 partners of 7 countries, including 1 industrial partner, 9 SMEs, two municipalities, 3 research centres and 2 universities with the aim to provide sustainable solutions with a strong market uptake and plans to widely disseminate their solutions and replicate it on all relevant islands in the EU and beyond.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824410.
INTERRFACE PROJECT [Jan/2019 - Dec/2022]
The project INTERRFACE main objectives are:
• Design, develop and exploit the interoperability of a pan-European network service architecture to act as an interface between the TSO and DSO and customers;
• Enable the integrated and coordinated operation of all stakeholders for the use and acquisition of common services.
This 4-year INTERRFACE project lasts from January 2019 to December 2022. It counts with the participation of 42 partners, from 16 countries, where R&D NESTER, REN and EDP Distribuição are from Portugal.
The project is financed in scope of the P2020 program.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824330
RESUCI PROJECT [Nov/2018 - Aug/2019]
RESUCI focuses on the monitoring of linear networks, such as energy networks. It is a collaborative effort of GMV (coordinator) and R&D Nester that, together with stakeholders REN - the Portuguese operator for the transmission electricity and gas system, are studying the techno-economic feasibility of three decision support space-based services concerning
Service 1 - Right of Way monitoring for obstacles and activity detection
Service 2 - Field maintenance operations management and control
Service 3 - Landslides risk monitoring.
SatCEN - European Union Satellite Centre is also providing requirements for Service 3. The project has the duration of 9 months and it is funded by ESA - European Space Agency.
https://business.esa.int/projects/resuci
OPTIGRID PROJECT [Oct/2018 - Sep/2022]
The project OptiGRID, main objectives are the development of an operational tool and a methodology using Dynamic Line Rating increasing the transmission capacity to facilitate an increase of RES integration in the power system and to reduce the number of separation hours of markets, affecting its prices.
R&D Nesters' main contribution for this project englobes an analysis to real power systems, analysis to the interchange capacity (import and export) available between markets and its bids on the intra-day and day-ahead markets, analysis to case studies with different scenarios (region with wind distributed generation, region with solar distributed generation, market splitting scenario) and analysis to the improvements obtained with the use of the developed tool in this project.
This project counts on the partnership between R&D Nester and LNEG, with a duration of 48 months, starting in 2018 and ending in 2022. The project is financed in scope of the P2020 program.
Disclaimer and financing programme/entity: Project PTDC/EEI-EEE/31711/2017 submitted under the call for tenders (AAC) No. 02 / SAICT / 2017, funded by national funds through the budget of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
SIMMRES PROJECT [Oct/2017 - Aug/2019]
SIMMRES delves with the impact that national and regional market mechanisms have on the share of RES in the electricity demand and with the different stages of the China's electricity market reform.
The project leverages the Portuguese and European experience to study the mechanisms for the integration of RES in the electricity demand that are suitable for China's electric power market environment.
It addresses the resource allocation for peak regulation and the coordination mechanisms of ancillary services aiming to encourage renewables consumption in China, which will effectively improve the level of China's renewables consumption and boost the development of China's electric power market.
The study of the scheduling strategy for the power grid peak and frequency regulation is also significant for Portugal.
The project develops case studies based on scenarios from Portugal and China's typical region, taking into account the interconnections with neighboring control zones.
GRID4RES PROJECT [Oct/2017 - Aug/2019]
This project aims to contribute to the study of the connection of RES sources in the context of high penetration.
It consists of the following components:
• Modeling of the network in a steady state and transient conditions. This modeling includes the development of aggregate models of solar and wind generation at the Point of Connection.
• Comparison of planning criteria from China and Portugal
• Study of the requirements that RES must have to participate in system services
• Integration of network storage devices in EHV systems
This project is carried out by R&D Nester in partnership with CEPRI and will last 18 months, starting at the end of 2017 until the middle of 2019
RESFOR PROJECT [Oct/2017 - Aug/2019]
Investigate on wind power forecast methods in European and American, including but not limited to forecasting methods, numerical weather forecast data, and forecasting service methods.
Obtain results for the fluctuation characteristics and differences of wind power output in Qinghai and Jiangsu, and power output in Portuguese nationwide.
Obtain results for the predictability difference of wind speed in China and Portugal. Present the problems of Chinese wind power forecasting, on the technology and management and give suggestions for improving the short-term prediction accuracy of wind power in China.
Provide radiation to power conversion model and analysis report to PV ultra-short-term forecast accuracy.
OSMOSE PROJECT [Jan/2018 - Apr/2022]
OSMOSE, Optimal System-Mix of Flexibility Solutions for European Electricity, is a TSO-led project aiming at a holistic approach towards the identification and development of the optimal mix of flexibilities to enable the European energy transition.
The major objectives of the OSMOSE project include the demonstration of different flexibility technological solutions, increasing their techno-economic feasibility and scalability, the forecast of the economically optimal mix of flexibilities for the future European electricity system and the proposal of new market designs and regulation facilitating the optimal mix of flexibility and maximizing social welfare.
R&D Nester contribution to the project focuses on the dimensions related to the identification of the optimal mix of flexibilities in the electricity system, the development of innovative market designs and regulation, as well as on interoperability related challenges to promote flexibility solutions, including through the use of IEC 61850 standard and an improved TSO-DSO coordination.
OSMOSE joins a total of 33 European partners including Transmission System Operators, electricity producers, industrial manufactures, IT and consulting companies, research centers and universities. Participating TSOs include REN, ELES, ELIA, RTE, REE and Terna. Other relevant players such as ABB, EFACEC, SAFT or ENEL are also part of OSMOSE consortium.
The project has a duration of four years, starting in 2018 until Apri 2022. The total budget of OSMOSE is around 22M€. The project is financed by the European Union under the H2020 programme.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 773406
ARCWIND PROJECT [Nov/2017 - Apr/2022]
ARCWIND (Adaptation and implementation of floating wind energy conversion technology for the Atlantic region) aims to contribute to the transition from fixed to floating wind platform systems for use in deep water and more exposed sites in the Atlantic Area by: the assessment of wind energy potential with a regional atmospheric model and remote sensed data; the study of different types of floating high power wind turbines numerically and experimentally; case studies of farms will be considered for cost assessment, logistics and maintenance planning as well as risk assessment.
Countries in the Atlantic Area have one of the world's best offshore wind resource. This industry is now progressing to deeper sites and the project aims to contribute to the viable industry development by facilitating the transition from fixed to floating platforms systems for use in deep water conditions and exposed sites in the Atlantic Area by: complementing the existing wind assessment studies using a multicriteria approach to select the best candidate location to receive wind farms; modelling and testing high power floating wind turbines considering multiple technologies and perform a multitude of studies related to the development of wind farms such as cost assessment, logistics and maintenance planning and risk analysis.
The project is financed by the INTERREG Atlantic Area Programme, has 15 different partners from the 5 countries that integrate the Atlantic Area and has a duration of 36 months.
http://www.centec.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/arcwind/home.aspx
FLEXITRANSTORE PROJECT [Nov/2017 - Apr/2022]
FLEXITRANSTORE (An Integrated Platform for Increased FLEXIbility in smart TRANSmission grids with STORage Entities and large penetration of Renewable Energy Sources) aims to contribute to the evolution towards a pan-European transmission network with high flexibility and high interconnection levels.
This will facilitate the transformation of the current energy production mix by hosting an increasing share of renewable energy sources. Novel smart grid technologies, control and storage methods and new market approaches will be developed, installed, demonstrated and tested introducing flexibility to the European power system.
FLEXITRANSTORE will promote increased cross-border electricity flows using the valorization of flexibility services. The project takes both a national and a regional approach, acknowledging the need to seamlessly integrate national markets, particularly in the South Eastern European network, which still lacks the high interconnectivity that the rest of the European network has.
The project is funded by H2020 (LCE-4-2017), has 28 partners from 13 countries, during 4 years.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774407
TDX-ASSIST PROJECT [Oct/2017 - Oct/2020]
Coordination of Transmission and Distribution data eXchanges for renewables integration in the European marketplace through Advanced, Scalable and Secure ICT Systems and Tools
This project aims to design and develop ICT tools and techniques that facilitate data exchange between Transmission System Operator (TSO) and Distribution System Operator (DSO).
The project focuses on TSO-DSO interoperability. In that sense interface specifications for TSO-DSO information exchange based on specific Use Case will be developed and mapped to IEC standards (e.g. 61970/61968/62325) in order to support automated information exchange and network analysis between system operators and other relevant actors in the electrical power sector.
The project is funded by H2020 (LCE-5-2017), has 12 partners from six countries, during 3 years.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774500
Global Energy Interconnection PROJECT [Jan/2017 - Dec/2017]
The purpose of this project is to understand the current status of the construction of the electricity transmission network around the Mediterranean Sea (also known as Mediterranean Ring) and provide insights on the potential benefits and challenges that will arise from these interconnections.
In this sense, this project study the potential impact that this infrastructure will have both for the European Countries, namely the ones around the Mediterranean Sea, and Middle East and North African countries involved.
Furthermore, based on literature research, this project identify the state of the art of current HVAC and HVDC technologies and potential interconnection paths between European countries and North Africa that are expected to be built upon 2050.
SMARTNET PROJECT [Jan/2016 - Dec/2016]
The SmartNet project aims to provide optimised instruments and modalities to improve the coordination between the grid operators at national and local level (respectively the TSOs and DSOs) and the exchange of information for monitoring and for the acquisition of ancillary services (reserve and balancing, voltage balancing control, congestion management) from subjects located in the distribution segment (flexible load and distributed generation).
The project is funded by H2020 (LCE-6-2015), has 22 partners from nine countries, during 3 years (2016 to 2018).
R&D Nester participates on the Advisory Board, giving feedback on the consultation process of the draft deliverables, bringing the TSO perspective on these topics. We also participate in the annual stakeholders meeting.
BIGDATAOCEAN PROJECT [Jan/2017 - Dec/2019]
BigDataOcean is a H2020 funded projects which aims to capitalise on existing modern technological breakthroughs in the areas of the big data driven economy, and roll out a completely new value chain of interrelated data streams coming from diverse sectors and languages and residing on cross technology innovations being delivered in different formats (as well in different states, e.g. structured/unstructured, real-time/batches) in order to revolutionise the way maritime-related industries work, showcasing a huge and realistic economic, societal and environmental impact that is being achieved by introducing an economy of knowledge into a traditional sector which does not operate in an orchestrated manner and is rather fragmented.
This infrastructure will be combined with four strong pilots that will bring into BigDataOcean a huge amount of data (in TBs) in order to develop the largest maritime database as a resource of collaborative, datadriven intelligence. BigDataOcean will give participants the capability to upload both private and public resources of data, and interrelate them over public and private queries and diagrams.
The main contribution of R&D Nester in this project is related to the deployment of a pilot entitled: Wave power as the next clean energy source. This pilot aims to improve the characterization of the ocean as a possible source of energy through the exploitation of wave power.
http://www.bigdataocean.eu/site/
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732310
SMART SUBSTATION TESTING AND IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT [Jan/2017 - Dec/2021]
The ongoing developments and achievements on protection, automation and control (PAC) systems for transmission grids, namely on IEC 61850 based solutions, provide new opportunities for real implementations and deeper research.
Inspired by the results derived from the 'Substation of the Future' project, where a specification for a new generation of PAC systems was developed and tested, the SMART SUBSTATION TESTING AND IMPLEMENTATION project aims to further develop the functionalities and extend the testing portfolio for PAC systems. Whilst performing the corresponding proof of concept at the laboratory, for further demonstration purposes, a real implementation in a transmission grid shall be evaluated.
The technical specification and corresponding testing protocols, already developed, will thus be customized for the real installation, considering its specific characteristics and the TSO requirements. A set of KPI will be defined for the implemented functions, which will allow evaluating its performance and of the overall PAC system.
With this project, the TSO will be encouraged to gain confidence in the new solutions powered by the new standards and technologies, contributing to a more efficient and reliable power system.
RENEWABLE INTEGRATION TOOLS PROJECT [Jan/2017 - Dec/2019]
"Renewable Integration Tools" Project aims to continue the research and maintenance of the solar forecast developed in the initial Project "Renewable Energy Dispatch Tools". The goal is to improve the capabilities of the solar forecast using more sky cameras and to implement space and time correlation algorithms.
The economic aspect of the integration of renewable energy sources in the electricity grid is also a central objective of this "Renewable Integration Tools" Project. A market simulation tool will be developed to assess the economic impact of the integration of renewable energy sources in the various aspects of the electricity markets. With the end of the feed-in tariffs, in addition to the revenue from the sale of energy in the wholesale market, the possible revenues obtained in the participation of the system service market will be quantified.
Using the knowledge acquired during the course of the initial "Renewable Energy Dispatch Tools" Project, a methodology on the thermal capacity of airlines (Dynamic Ratings) will be implemented. Also, the study of inertia in a system with a large penetration of renewable energy sources will be done using the PMU - Phasor Measurement Unit.
SusCity PROJECT [Jan/2015 - Jun/208]
SusCity is a research and development project of a technological nature which the main scientific area of study covers the topic of sustainable cities. SusCity focuses on several structural aspects in the transition towards future cities such as information and communication technology, water and waste management, mobility and smart grids. Through collection and processing of massive amounts of urban data the project aims to develop new tools and services to promote an efficient use of urban resources with reduced environmental impacts.
The participation of R&D Nester in the SusCity project is focused on its smart grids' dimension. In particular, the work developed will result in: tools for assessing the impact in power system of an increased penetration of distributed energy resources (photovoltaics; electric vehicles and controllable loads) in more sustainable cities; new electricity market models to facilitate the participation of new agents (aggregators; flexible loads; renewable power plants), namely through bids of a stochastic nature.
SusCity is a project under the MIT Portugal Program, with project's reference MITP-TB/CS/0026/2013, funded by FCT Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Ministério da Educação e Ciência and a large set of industrial partners.
Additional information available at:
ISSWINDemo Project [Mar/2016 - Mar/2018]
The ISSWINDemo demonstration project exploits the satellite remote sensing system and the global satellite navigation system to developing the following supporting services for the wind power industry:
- Service 1. Wind resource maps
- Service 2. Wind and wave hindcast databases
- Service 3. Weather and ocean forecasting
- Service 4. Wind power forecasting
The services effectively address the specific needs of the different actors across the wind energy industry value chain. The target users in the 7 pilot-projects include promotors of onshore/offshore wind parks, construction and maintenance companies, the wind park operators, energy traders and system operators (SOs).
The technological innovation underlying these services is the integrated assimilation of data from satellites and from the Numerical Weather Prediciton (NWP), with application to the assessment of the long-term energy yield and to the weather and power forecasting to support decision-making.
This project is funded by ESA - European Space Agency.
Power system simulation PROJECT [Jan/2013 - Dec/2016]
This project aims to respond to two infrastructural needs: one is the need for real time power system digital simulator and the other is the need for advanced grid monitoring and control capabilities useful for planning and operation of power grids with high penetration of renewables.
With the accomplishment of this project, the following benefits, amid others, can be expected:
• Power system transient studies - precise modelling of transient phenomena and fast interactions among switching devices and power electronic devices
• Real time simulation of large power systems with prototypes or actual control and protective devices connected in-the-loop
• Testing simultaneously the behavior of protection and automation systems during several power system conditions and, the behavior of the substation communication systems in order to assess not only the protection devices behavior but also the other elements in face of different traffic conditions
• Product prototype developing, type testing and conformance testing
• Model verification using field data and event records
• Renewables integration increase through better cooperation between TSO and DSO
Energy Storage Planning PROJECT [Jan/2013 - Apr/2016]
The transition towards a decarbonized energy system is underway, by boosting renewable energy sources. However, the new energy paradigm brings a set of demanding challenges to the power system operators, as a result of the increasing integration of variable renewable energy sources, as well as the rise of the smart grid concept. Energy Storage is seen as an inevitable strategy to cope with larger variability and intermittency of supply, by providing services to the system.
The main goal of this project is to develop a Multi-attribute Energy Storage Planning methodology for transmission networks. This methodology aims to identify the preferred network planning alternatives including energy storage, in the TSO perspective. Allied to this methodology the project aims to develop network and market analysis tools in order to simulate various scenarios and optimize the planning solutions, offering a solid base to their fundamentals.
The project also intends to fill existing gaps in the current literature in the planning of energy storage, as well as to suggest some adaptations to current legislation in order to allow the integration of energy storage in a broader way, thus allowing the identification of new business opportunities, especially for TSOs. It is also intended to make a characterization of the Portuguese transport network and to address the particular case of Portugal and its integration into MIBEL energy market, as well as the scenarios foreseen in the development plan of the national transport network in terms of its infrastructures and defined goals, in order to delineate the existing potential in the scope of energy storage.
Substation of the Future PROJECT [Jan/2013 - Dec/2016]
Smart Grids is becoming more than just a buzz word, within the electrical energy industry, especially when technology is making possible breakthroughs in the way old and new assets are operated and managed.
Whilst transmission grid operators have been relaying on advanced and sophisticated network infrastructures, new challenges and smarter techniques urge to be assessed.
The "Substation of the Future" project aims to define and demonstrate a new concept of substation secondary systems, namely, protection, automation, control, monitoring and metering, that may be adopted by transmission grid utilities, thru a research that outcomes a real-time testing platform for future smart+ generation substations.
A new vision and technical specifications will be stated and developed based on high reliability, creativity, scalability, interoperability, normalization, easy management and maintenance requirements and foundations, supported on worldwide accepted standards and advanced ICT platforms, to provide cost-benefit optimization over the life span of the transmission grid assets.
Renewable Energy Dispatch Tools PROJECT [Jul/2013 - Dec/2016]
The main goal of the project is to deploy new and improve existing tools to be used by the system operator to manage high level of intermittent renewable energy such wind and solar.
The probabilistic approach in wind and solar forecasting allows the quantification of forecast uncertainty, and it is possible to know what additional reserves are needed to integrate this variable generation into the electric system.
In view of the high penetration levels of this type of renewable production, they must also participate in system services, providing frequency and voltage control. This project demonstrated the capability of a wind farm to provide this type of control at the point of interconnection, as well as at the level of a solar inverter for photovoltaic systems.