Flexible transmission grids – Electricity production from renewable energy sources is often intermittent and has variable power flows. The integration of these sources into the grid requires special design and continuous monitoring for an optimal and secure operation. Our work includes the development of new technologies for efficient and flexible power system control, improved flexible transmission systems and converters, as well as new design of traditional components for the increasing demands in manoevrability.
Intelligent automation and protection of grids – The behaviour of the power system will be affected by a large input to the grid from intermittent sources, such as wind and solar power. It is desirable to utilize these renewable energy sources when they can deliver the most, thus requiring high stress tolerance from the sub-grids. All these new conditions demand new intelligent automation and protection systems.
Infrastructure for consumer-friendly electric power systems – Power delivery has focused on the balance between production and consumption. It is likely that in the future consumers will play a more active role in the power market, acting as small-scale producers from e.g. local wind or solar energy plants. Another driving force in this direction may be the introduction of electric vehicles requiring charge and acting as energy storage devices. Our main goals are to develop highly reliable distribution networks that enable small-scale electricity generation, centralised charging locations for electric vehicles, as well as distributed energy storage. We also develop methods for optimizing the performance of the Communications and IT infrastructure necessary to provide the future customer services.