Farcross

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Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange EAD (IBEX) is a partner in the FARCROSS project (Facilitating Regional CROSS-border Electricity Transmission through Innovation) whose main goal is to promote state-of-the-art technologies to enhance the exploitation, capacity and efficiency of transmission grid assets, either on the generation or the transmission level.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 864274. The total cost of FARCROSS amounts to EUR 13 643 692.50, of which Horizon 2020 contribution amounts to EUR 9 996 497.25.

The project started in October 2019 and will continue until October 2023.

Strategic goals of the project:

FARCROSS aims to connect major stakeholders of the energy value chain and to 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 demonstrate an innovative regional forecasting platform for the 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 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:
– Successfully integrate large amounts of renewable generation that is 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 maximize EU-wide renewable generation.
– Reduce the need to build new infrastructure by first optimizing the existing network, whereas at the same time to achieve reduced environmental impact compared to alternative options and minimise total costs to customers.
– Shorten connection lead-times, as FARCROSS solutions can be installed in relatively short timeframes, can minimize the grid modifications needed to integrate new sources of generation or serve as a bridge solution.

For more information visit: https://farcross.eu/

Meet FARCROSS in a nutshell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_jOvhg4TUU&t=1s

  • IBEX shared lessons learnt and key takeaways from FARCROSS and TRINITY at the joint final event of the two projects

IBEX participated in the joint final event of the Horizon 2020 projects FARCROSS and TRINITY that was held on September 7th in Brussels. The main purpose of this joint event was to present the achievements of the two projects in enhancing the cross-border capacities in the South-Eastern Europe through state-of-the art technologies, and also to share the knowledge, challenges and solutions of the projects.

On behalf of IBEX Mr. Evgeniy Nikolov, Head of IT department shared lessons learnt from IBEX’s participation in both projects, and also key takeaways for IBEX.

“It was challenging to be involved in the testing of the state-of-the-art digital technologies”, Mr. Nikolov said during his presentation. ”The two projects broadened our mindset and helped us to see the bigger picture at EU level”, he added.

He pointed out that IBEX now has a better understanding of system operation planning, forecasting and analysis on the level of TSO cooperation. This helped the exchange operator to establish a better working level of cooperation with cross-border exchanges and TSOs operational staff which eventually will result in accelerating the integration of the electricity markets in South-East European region, respectively in promoting higher penetration of clean energies.

  • The synergy between FARCROSS and TRINITY presented at the webinar “Enhancing Cross-Border Power Connections: The FARCROSS & TRINITY Experience” 

The synergy between the EU Horizon2020 projects FARCROSS and TRINITY has been presented at the webinar “Enhancing Cross-Border Power Connections: The FARCROSS & TRINITY Experience”. The webinar was hosted by ISGAN (International Smart Grid Action Network) and was held on June 15th.

Since the two projects have been working on enhancing the cross-border capacities in the South-Eastern European region applying different approaches they decided to collaborate using optimalization solutions and grid-enhancing technologies. The common paper developed by FARCROSS and TRINITY called „Merging cross border flow optimization techniques for performance maximization“ shows that combining SmartValves hardware system (FARCROSS) and T-Sentinel software (TRINITY) can significantly enhance the South East Europe power system, its stability and reliability.

T–SENTINEL remedies grid overloading condition, and SmartValves as Мodular Power Flow Control (MPFC) technology diverts power flows from congested lines.

The webinar video can be found at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsW_jfX1LeA


Through the FARCROSS project Smart Wires has worked with the Greek transmission operator IPTO (ADMIE) to validate the capability of a rapidly deployable Modular Power Flow Control (MPFC) technology to increase cross border flows in the region and renewable energy penetration. This technology can unlock spare network capacity through better distribution of power, accessing capacity of the existing electrical network that was previously unavailable. This is done by either pushing power from overloaded lines by increasing the impedance of the line or pulling power towards underutilized lines by decreasing the impedance of the line. More information about MPFC is available here.

  • Wide-Area Protection, Automation and Control system (WAMPAC) successfully installed and running

Wide-Area Protection, Automation and Control system (WAMPAC) has been successfully installed and running in the Greek transmission system. The aim of WAMPAC is to serve as a useful tool for monitoring and controlling the steady and dynamic state of the power grid. The seven services implemented in the WAMPAC system are supervised by FARCROSS SCADA. You can read more about WAMPAC system here.

Between March 28th and 30th 2023, the BRIDGE European initiative held its yearly General Assembly, where members of the community gathered to discuss its 93 projects. Currently, 53 of these projects are in progress, and the initiative plans to increase the total number to 150.

  • EU Projects Zone Podcast presented FARCROSS and TRINITY

The EU Projects Zone presented the Horizon 2020 funded projects TRINITY and Farcross. Listen to the podcast to find out the similarities and differences between the two projects both working on the improvement of the cross-border flow of electricity in Central and Southeastern Europe.

  • FARCROSS and TRINITY synergies discussed at TRINITY’s Coffee Break #8

The synergies, joint activities, and complementary actions of the two European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program’s funded projects – TRINITY and FARCROSS were discussed at TRINITY’s Coffee Break #8 edition.

  • Potential application of the solutions within the OPTIM-CAP demonstration project

The implementation potential of the solutions and innovations implemented within the OPTIM-CAP demonstration project were presented in an interview with Péter Márk Sőrés, Assistant Professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, leader of the OPTIM-CAP demonstration. The interview is available at the following link.

FARCROSS participated in the first Knowledge Sharing Session of the BRIDGE Regulation WG that was held online on January 13, 2023. Katerina Drivakou, Energy Systems Researcher at UBITECH ENERGY, presented the project’s findings regarding the existing regulatory challenges to cross-border cooperation highlighting the aspect of barriers to innovation and on how FARCROSS solutions can contribute to overcoming these challenges.

BRIDGE Knowledge Sharing Sessions aim to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and good practices between the projects participating in the initiative by enabling them to present specific topics or insights that may go beyond the scope of the Regulation WG work plan.

  • FARCROSS participated in ENLIT

FARCROSS participated in one of Europe’s most relevant smart energy fairs, ENLIT in Frankfurt between 29 November and 1 December, 2022. At the booth of FARCROSS the consortium partners presented to visitors how the project contributes to the enhancement of the cross-border electricity flows in the South-Eastern European region. The project technical manager Mr. Anastasis Tzoumpas on day 2 presented the cornerstones and goals of FARCROSS, highlighting the five demonstration areas, and their expected impact on the increased cross-border power flows.

  • FARCROSS’s Wide-Area Protection, Automation and Control system presented to students in Zaragoza (WAMPAC)

On December 1st, 2022, Eduardo Martinez Carrasco from CIRCE presented the FARCROSS project and “Wide-Area Protection, Automation and Control system (WAMPAC) applied to Cross-Border Transmission Systems” to students of Master of Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency of Zaragoza University. Within a one-hour class the challenges facing the integration of renewable energies in the European electricity system were presented. The presentation is available here.

  • IBEX participated in FARCROSS 7th Plenary meeting

IBEX participated in FARCROSS 7th Plenary meeting. FARCROSS partners met in Zaragoza, Spain the 25th and 26th of October 2022 to discuss the project’s status and progress. Administrative, technical, dissemination and demo results were all on the program. Members of the consortium discussed their accomplishments and decided on the next actions as the project reaches its final year.

  • Successful second review of the FARCROSS project.

The second review of the FARCROSS H2020 Innovation Action research project with the external reviewer and the Project Officer from the EC side took place on June 21, 2022, wherein the FARCROSS consortium successfully presented the results of the work of the project during the second year of the project. More information is available at the following link: https://farcross.eu/successful-second-review-of-the-farcross-project/.

  • FARCROSS participated in InnoGrid 2022.

FARCROSS participated in the eleventh annual meeting on European innovation in power networks InnoGrid – InnoGrid 2022 “Value of the Grids” organized by European Distribution System Operators’ Association (E.DSO) and the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E).

During the first day of InnoGrid 2022, on 14 June 2022, UBITECH Energy, as technical coordinator of FARCROSS, presented the solutions that are being developed within the project to expand the capabilities of the grids in order to increase the security of supply in the SEE region, without adding new infrastructure.

A video of the webinar is available at the following link: https://youtu.be/InEEIWd_KOA

  • A novel methodology for critical span identification for Dynamic Line Rating system implementation has been published

The full text is available here: https://zenodo.org/record/6638332#.YqhFHKhBxPZ

  • Modular Power Flow Control demo of FARCROSS awarded in the Annual Strategy Meeting 2022 of IPTO

Find more information at the following links:

https://farcross.eu/new-release-on-mpfc-demo-video/https://farcross.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/FARCROSS_Factsheet_WP4_v0.2.pdf

Find out more details about the demos here:

EUROPAN: https://farcross.eu/europan-demo-pan-european-deep-modelling-framework-for-improved-system-operation-planning-forecasting-and-analysis-on-the-inter-tso-level/

OPTIM-CAP: https://farcross.eu/optim-cap-demo/

WAMS: https://farcross.eu/wams-demo-implementation-of-a-wide-area-protection-automation-and-control-system-wampac-applied-to-cross-border-transmission-systems/

DLR-H: https://farcross.eu/drl-h-demo-complex-grid-management-technology-for-handling-cross-border-transmission-line-capacity-related-issues/

MPFC: https://farcross.eu/new-release-on-mpfc-demo-video/

  • First meeting of the FARCROSS project partners

The FARCROSS consortium met in Athens 23rd and 24th of October 2019. The cross-border cooperation and the application of smart grid innovations for increasing cross-border capacity were the topics of the meeting.

 

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is EU_flag-2.png This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 864274.