In mid-October, the TIGON team met in Thessaloniki, Greece, for its first in-person meeting. At the midway point in this four-year project, we looked at overall progress towards our goal to offer a new hybrid microgrid solution.
Actually we can talk of solutions in the plural as we’re developing eight microgrid software and hardware components, all of which will be bundled into an operational configuration for microgrid roll-out.
Project manager Montserrat Lanero from CIRCE stated:
‘The project is generally unfolding according to plan and it’s great to meet the team face to face finally. Now our sights are set on preparing TIGON solutions for their deployment at the demo sites so that we can start the operation of these sites, which will be a major new phase in TIGON.’
Below are the project’s key components. They will be rolled out at our two demo sites before being replicated at two other sites:
Hardware
- Solid-state transformer
- SiC DC/DC converters
- DC protection schemes
- Medium voltage DC photovoltaic plant
Software
- Wide area monitoring protection and control
- Energy management system
- Decision support tool for DC-based grids
- Cybersecurity defence system
At the demo sites – in France and Spain – the local teams are preparing for the actual demonstrations to take place. Most aspects are progressing on time, but some purchasing and delivery of equipment have been affected by a supplies crisis, meaning a slightly different demonstration schedule has been set.
At the meeting, we discussed other project areas such as data handling and demonstration monitoring. In addition, RINA held an exploitation and IPR workshop to discuss routes to market and intellectual property.
Our partner CERTH hosted the meeting. CERTH is a leading research centre in both Greece and Europe. In the project, they work on setting out the scenarios for hybrid grid architecture and boundary conditions.
