Second Annual Belgian Energy Transition Workshop: Shaping the Future Grid: Challenges in Control, Security, and Acceptance

A greater share of electricity in our energy mix requires a significant expansion of the grid—an effort that cannot succeed without public support. Increasing infrastructure acceptance is therefore essential to move projects forward and align the energy transition with societal needs.

At the same time, the grid is facing mounting physical and operational stresses, largely due to the variability of renewable energy sources. Planners and operators have to prioritize resilience and grid security, ensuring the system can adapt to climate extremes, geopolitical uncertainty, and rapidly evolving demand and generation patterns.

Together, these challenges reflect the complexity and urgency of the moment. To address them, EnergyVille, with the support of the Flemish government, has established Etch, the Energy Transmission Competence Hub.

The grid of the future must not only be clean and efficient. It must also be accepted, resilient, secure, and fundamentally reimagined.

Programme

• 09h00 – 09h30 Registration and coffee
• 09h30 – 09h45 Opening words
• 09h45 – 10h15 Keynote: Prof. Jef Beerten
• 10h20 – 11h10 parallel session: Increasing infrastructure acceptance OR Technology for grid security
  • Increasing infrastructure acceptance – Moderator Amauri Martins Britto (Etch-EnergyVille/KU Leuven):
    • Virginie Kluyskens, Dynamic Simulations of Converter for Electrolyzer inside a Medium Voltage Industrial Grid
    • Hakan Ergun, Harmonic Hosting Capacity for Underground Cables
  • Technology for grid security – Moderator Geraint Chaffey (Etch-EnergyVille/KU Leuven):
    • Pierre Hennaux, Assessing and Enhancing Power System Reliability
    • Pedro Baena, HVDC Instrument Transformer Bandwidth Selection Methodology
• 11h10 – 11h25 Coffee
• 11h25 – 12h15 Panel discussion of parallel sessions
  • Increasing infrastructure acceptance:
    • Amauri B. Martins, Uncertainty of Frequency Dependent Impedance Parameters for Transmission Assets
    • Open discussion moderated by the session chair
  • Technology for grid security:
    • Merijn Van Deyck,  Optimization of HVDC circuit breaker configuration in DC switching stations
    • Open discussion moderated by the session chair
• 12h15 – 14h00 Lunch and poster session
• 14h00 – 14h30 Keynote: Xavier Bourgeat (Rte) – Interoperability challenges from a TSOs perspective
• 14h40 – 15h30 Parallel session: To grid form or not to grid form OR Planning a resilient grid:
  • To grid form or to not grid form – Moderator Jef Beerten (Etch-EnergyVille/KU Leuven):
    • Antonin Colot (Elia)
    • Francesco G. Puricelli, Improving Active Power Support in Bipolar HVDC Systems with Grid-Forming MMCs
  • Planning a resilient grid– Moderator Hakan Ergun (Etch-EnergyVille/KU Leuven):
    • Madeleine Jendernalik, Planning a Resilient and Sustainable Grid
    • Oscar Damanik, Mitigating large-scale offshore wind farm shutdowns during a severe storm using an adaptive robust optimization approach
• 15h30 – 15h45 Coffee
• 15h45 – 16h35  Panel discussion on parallel sessions
  • To grid form or not to grid form
    • Francisco J.Cifuentes Garcia, Small-signal interaction analysis of a bipolar grid-forming MMC-HVDC link
    • Open discussion moderated by the session chair
  • Planning a resilient grid
    • Kaan Yurtseven, Operational planning in powers system under uncertainty
    • Open discussion moderated by the session chair
• 16h40 – 17h00 Moderators’ summary of the parallel sessions
• 17h00  Reception

Practical information

Date: 16 September

Time: 9 AM-5 PM CET

Location: Thor Central, Genk