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UBITECH Group undertakes the coordination and the technical leadership of the FARCROSS Innovation Action on regional cross-border electricity transmission

UBITECH and UBITECH ENERGY are hosting the kick-off meeting, in Athens, Greece (October 23-24, 2019), of the FARCROSS project, officially started on October  1st, 2019. The project is funded by European Commission under Horizon 2020 Programme (Grant Agreement No 864274) and spans on the period October 2019 – September 2023. The FARCROSS project intends to connect major stakeholders of the energy value chain and demonstrate integrated hardware and software solutions that will facilitate the “unlocking” of the resources for the cross-border electricity flows and regional cooperation. The project will promote state-of-the art technologies to enhance the exploitation/capacity/efficiency of transmission grid assets, either on the generation or the transmission level. The hardware and software solutions will increase grid observability to facilitate system operations at a regional level, exploit the full potential of transmission corridors for increased electricity flows that will facilitate transition to flow-based regional market coupling; consider cross-border connections and their specific ICT and grid infrastructure; use a wide-area protection approach to ensure the safe integration of renewable energy sources into the grid; mitigate disturbances; increase power system stability.

In particular, an innovative regional forecasting platform will be demonstrated for improved prognosis of renewable generation and demand response and a capacity reserves optimization tool will be tested to maximize cross-border flows. The non-harmonization of national regulation will be studied, and measures will be recommended to avoid distortion of the technology benefits. FARCROSS will employ technological innovations -as described below- to bring forward the additional benefits gained by increasing interconnectivity between neighbouring systems that strongly align with EU vision and policy, and most importantly to:

  1. Successfully integrate large amounts of renewable generation. These resources are intermittent and there are advantages to geographic dispersion. FARCROSS proposed solutions can be used to increase cross-border flows allowing other countries from importing clean energy and to maximise EU-wide renewable generation.
  2. Reduce the need to build new infrastructure by first optimising the existing network, whereas at the same time to achieve reduced environmental impact compared to alternative options and minimise total costs to customers.
  3. Shorten connection lead-times, as FARCROSS solutions can be installed in relatively short timeframes, can minimise the grid modifications needed to integrate new sources of generation or serve as a bridge solution.

Furthermore, FARCROSS’s mains objectives can be categorised in six different sections:

  1. To test the state-of-the-art digital technologies, installed on the power grid and communication infrastructure, such as power flow controllers(MPFC), dynamic line rating sensing systems (DLR)  and wide-area monitoring systems (WAMS), for optimally exploiting and maximising the capacity and security of transmission corridors.
  2. To develop and introduce advanced software solutions, including capacity allocation and reserve optimisation tools, as well as an advanced forecasting of energy production and demand response platform, to increase the cross-border capacity and the potential of cross-border grid services.
  3. To design and propose a robust set of technical and market codes(pathways) that would enable the building up of the harmonisation of the network codes, and subsequently to the integration of national electricity markets -possibly via a regional route.
  4. To design and present a cost-benefit analysis (CBA), based on the outcomes and lessons learnt from the project implementations and demonstrations, to enhance the planning of cross-border infrastructure investments.
  5. To demonstrate the aforementioned hardware and software technologies and relevant concepts in realistic environments; the FARCROSS project engages TSOs and energy producers in 8 countries (Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania), focusing on illustrating specific functions and serving real need and existing challenges, engaging different actors of the energy value chain.
  6. To facilitate further research and new market opportunities across the energy industry by ensuring an efficient dissemination of the FARCROSS outcomes to key stakeholders

Within FARCROSS, UBITECH has the project coordination, overviewing all the activities taking place throughout the whole duration of the project, while UBITECH ENERGY has the central role in the project for the technical topics. UBITECH ENERGY has the  technical coordination, overviewing all the activities taking place throughout the whole duration of the project. It will coordinate closely with the WP leaders in order to fulfil the technical and business objectives of FARCROSS as well as overcome any challenges being faced during the implementation of the project plan. It will be responsible for the quality assurance of the work being delivered by the project participants, mitigate any risks, find solutions to any problems among partners and in general keep the project plan on track. Finally, UBITECH ENERGY will contribute in the cost benefit analysis, the evaluation, exploitation and dissemination of projects results and finally in the scalability and replicability plans at EU level.