Innovative microgrids for improved energy system integration and efficiency in urban contexts

Expected Outcome:

Projects are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:

• Improved awareness of the potential of Low Voltage Direct Current (LVDC) microgrids to support the goals of the European Green Deal and the Clean Industrial Deal, including as defined under the SET Plan^[1] and the Solar Strategy^[2].
• Increased acceptance of LVDC microgrids in Europe, with significant and measurable contributions to human and building safety (notably with respect to DC faults), energy and resource efficiency, integration of renewables & storage and demand response, peak power shaving, resilience, and (where applicable) established proof of concept on how LVDC microgrids can enable energy communities^[3] to share energy assets and increase self-consumption of local renewables sources.
• Increased uptake in European cities, facilitated by technical guidelines for installation of LVDC microgrids and recommendations on regulatory alignment to European, national, regional and local authorities, as well as power distribution operators.
• Increased number of regulatory options and standards supporting EU industry leadership in the supply of LVDC solutions, in line with the Competitiveness Compass guidelines for fostering innovation and growth.

Scope:

Most electric appliances in buildings are based on Direct Current (DC): PV panels, stationary and e-vehicle batteries, LED lighting, IT equipment, heat pumps and other appliances. Their connection to a LVDC microgrid inside the building would significantly improve energy and materials efficiency (replacing AC/DC converters by simpler DC/DC converters) and optimise local electrical and/or thermal energy storage and self-consumption of local renewables, contribute to (AC) grids stability through demand response and ancillary services (incl. reactive power support), and increase resilience by enabling islanded operation. The required power capacity of the connection of the LVDC microgrid to the AC (Alternating Current) distribution grid via a central AC/DC converter would be significantly lower than a traditional AC installation, thereby reducing pressure on city grid.

The LVDC microgrid could also be implemented at small neighbourhood level (e.g. a street), possibly in parallel to an existing AC grid, enabling more efficient and easier sharing of common energy assets and self-consumption in an energy community.

In order to reach this goal, proposals are expected to address all of the following aspects:

• Develop innovative, safe and sustainable LVDC microgrids design methods and tools, ensuring notably grid monitoring, control and safe handling of DC faults at affordable cost; develop methodologies and assess the life-cycle costs/benefits of LVDC microgrids (compared to traditional AC installations), for the application itself and the overall energy system (including the impacts on the AC distribution grid, for example, due to the injection of harmonics, or contribution to grid stability through ancillary services and demand response over the current and next day), from technical, environmental, economic and social aspects (notably on vulnerable consumers energy bill).
• Demonstrate in real life an LVDC microgrid, connecting all electrical applications in at least one residential, office or commercial building, or in one neighbourhood. The proposal must already include a review of the local regulatory framework(s) and grid codes and a demonstration that the real-life implementation(s) of the LVDC microgrid will be possible in the local context(s) (possibly through pre-agreed regulatory relaxation or ‘innovation sandbox’).
• Beyond the real demonstration(s), the installation of LVDC microgrid must be demonstrated virtually in other types of buildings, including at least one building under renovation, in the environment of different cities and countries, including at least one vulnerable urban area if possible, by numerical simulation using digital twins^[4], with the objective of assessing the regulatory feasibility and life-cycle costs/benefits (detailed in the first bullet) in these different environments. The total number of real and virtual demonstrations must be at least 3.
• Identify regulatory barriers at European, national and distribution system operator levels, and make suggestions to resolve them.
• Contribute to standardization (CEN-CENELEC, IEC), notably contributing use cases.
• Develop LVDC solutions awareness, education and training materials (respectively for public authorities and general public, for students, for urban planners, project developers and installers), in collaboration with local academia and research partners.
• Disseminate project results, engage all relevant stakeholders along the value chain, including residents, users, industry, and researchers, from the planning phase; organise at least one open workshop coupled with site visits.

This topic requires contributions from social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts and institutions. Their contributions should enhance the societal relevance and impact of proposed activities from planning to implementation and especially related to the last two bullets.

The projects under this topic shall be open to cooperate with each other on relevant tasks such as joint workshops and dissemination events and joint policy briefs and contribution to standardisation process, to maximise the collective impact.

Proposals should build on previous projects, notably Horizon Europe project Shift2DC, as well as HYPERRIDE, TIGON, HYNET and THEUS. Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform is essential. The collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform must be formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding to be concluded as soon as possible after the project starting date. Under the guidance of the Cities Mission Platform, the selected projects will engage in clustering activities with other relevant projects supported under the Cities Mission, such as the ones on PED digital twins, to promote synergies and complementarities. Proposals should ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing clustering activities and cooperation with the Cities Mission Platform are included in the work-plan.

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[1] SET Plan LVDC Implementation Plan (europa.eu)

[2] COM(2022) 221 final, p14, The European Commission communication on the EU Solar Energy Strategy recognises that increasing the use of DC technologies could be beneficial to the electricity system: as renewable power from solar is produced in Direct Current (DC), conversion to Alternating Current (AC) to feed into the grid and then converting back to DC, e.g. to store energy, leads to energy losses; such conversion losses are currently growing because more devices and system, such as batteries, heat-pumps, data centres, electric vehicles or appliances, operate in DC.

[3] Energy communities – defined under the Renewable Energy Directive and the Electricity Market Directive, and further supported by the upcoming Citizens Energy Package are identified as a vehicle to empower citizens, small businesses and local authorities to produce, manage and consumer their own energy.

[4] https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/horizon-miss-2023-cit-01-02