As Europe electrifies and renewable generation continues to grow, the electricity grid is becoming more complex. New transmission technologies, flexible demand and increasingly interconnected AC and DC systems are changing how the grid operates. Managing this complexity requires new approaches to planning, control, protection and simulation. This was at the heart of the Third Annual Belgian Energy Transition Workshop: Shaping the Future Grid, organised by Etch on 6 October in Genk.
Prof. dr. ir. Jan Desmet, Gewoon-Hoogleraar Elektrotechniek at Ghent University, opened the workshop with a keynote on the role of DC in future grids.
Key takeaways
The workshop highlighted four interconnected areas for future electricity systems:
- Planning for uncertainty
As renewable generation, electricity demand and flexible loads evolve, grid planning and operation need to account for a wider range of possible conditions and risks. Improving current forecasts in combination with risk-based optimization models help to make congestion management affordable. - Integrating underground and HVDC technologies
Underground cables and HVDC connections can help expand and reinforce future transmission systems, while raising new questions around stability and planning. Modelling cables accurately is key to understand their impact of on the control and protection of future power systems. - Controlling increasingly complex power systems
As power-electronic converters and hybrid AC/DC systems become more prominent, new control approaches are needed to maintain stability and support reliable grid operation. Understanding the impact of converter interactions in different operating conditions requires a re-thinking of system stability, and system strength definitions and dedicated models for analysis. - Protecting future AC/DC grids
The increasing complexity of HVDC and hybrid AC/DC networks brings new challenges for fault detection, protection and system security. Planning, operation and control cannot be seen independent from protections strategies in future power electronic dominated systems.
Across all four areas, advanced modelling, simulation and optimisation are becoming increasingly important for understanding how technologies interact, developing new approaches and validating them before deployment.
Planning for uncertainty
Future electricity systems need to cope with changing and uncertain generation, demand and consumption patterns.
The morning sessions explored how planning and operation can take these uncertainties into account. Research addressed the resilience of transmission grids with underground HVDC connections, risk-aware congestion management and grid topology optimisation as renewable generation increases.
Flexible demand was another part of the discussion. One contribution examined how large supercomputing loads could be scheduled with grid conditions and uncertainty in mind.
The common thread was clear: future grids need to be designed for a range of possible conditions, rather than only for an expected scenario. Risk based decision making will be key.
Integrating and managing new grid technologies
As electricity networks expand, integrating HVDC and underground cables requires a better understanding of their impact on the wider power system.
Research presented at the workshop examined the stability of multi-terminal HVDC systems, the impact of grounding arrangements and the connection of offshore wind farms through HVDC. Other contributions focused on grid-forming converters, converter interactions and new approaches to modelling converter-dominated power systems.
Protection was closely linked to these questions. Researchers addressed HVDC fault-current limiting, protection and DC reactor sizing, as well as harmonic behaviour and congestion management in offshore hybrid AC/DC grids.
Together, these contributions highlight the need to for a holistic view on transmission technologies, control and protection as parts of one interconnected system.
From research and simulation to future applications
Researchers used a range of methods, including optimisation, data-driven approaches, electromagnetic transient modelling and real-time simulation. Each provides a different way of investigating the increasingly complex behaviour of future power systems.
Participants could explore this work during a visit to the Etch Simulation Lab, where real-time and non-real-time simulation can be used to investigate future electricity systems, including HVDC converters, protection systems and digital substations. After, the keynote by Cyprian Peters of RTDS Technologies dove deeper into Real Time Simulation.
The workshop demonstrated that preparing the future grid requires different areas of expertise to come together. Planning for uncertainty, underground and HVDC transmission, control, protection and simulation all address different aspects of the same challenge: how to develop an electricity system that can accommodate more renewable energy while remaining stable, secure and manageable.
By bringing these research perspectives together, Etch created a space for researchers and industry experts to exchange knowledge and explore how new approaches can contribute to future transmission systems. This combination of expertise, simulation and collaboration is at the core of Etch’s role as a research and collaboration hub for HVDC and underground transmission systems.
