Monitoring Report 2018
Research, Development
and Innovation Projects
The RD&I Monitoring Report is based on a survey of 57 R&D projects. To complete this sample, 131 additional projects in the field of digitalisation, and 18 projects related to flexibility services, were considered in less details.
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R&D Report
The full report based on a survey of 57 R&D projects and 149 additional projects
Download Main Report
(PDF, 5 MB)
Annex 1
Detailed coverage assessment of the ENTSO-E Roadmap, achievements, main gaps and outlook
Download Annex 1
(PDF, 3 MB)
Annex 2
List of additional TSO related projects from the ENTSO-E Working Groups
Download Annex 2
(PDF, 2 MB)
Highlights
- For most projects, exploitation of results is foreseen to begin in less than 5 years. However, most results need significant investment before they can be exploited. Other common barriers to exploitation of results are linked to the regulatory environment and to market conditions.
- Key Exploitable Results of TSO-participated projects have high Technology Readiness Level, short expected time-to-market, and are mostly foreseen to be used internally, by project partners, rather than in commercial use or as open source.
- TSO participation in the EU funded projects, especially with a coordinating role, is relatively low compared to other stakeholders (research centres, consultants, ICT providers). Eastern Europe is under-represented in the geographical balance.
- The benefits for society delivered by R&D projects include mainly the improvement of electricity network management, the reduction of carbon emissions and the development of more efficient business models & market designs.
Recommendations
- Fast developments in the surrounding environment call for the updating of the ENTSO-E RD&I Roadmap, in particular for the capturing of macro-trends such as the digitalisation of power systems, decentralisation and sector coupling.
- The difficulties in replacing the existing grid infrastructure are forcing TSOs to search for the best balance between investing in new power technologies on one hand, while optimising performances and increasing the lifetime of existing ones on the other.
- The TSO/DSO interface should receive significant attention to increase system observability and enhance the deployment of new services that ensure overall system security. Considerable effort is needed to design and implement the internal electricity market.
- There have been major RD&I achievements to facilitate the massive integration of renewable energy sources into the system. In addition, a newly developed set of management and control concepts will facilitate the safe integration of demand-response and EVs into the European electricity system. New tools will support the long-term planning of the European electricity.
- Some demonstration pilots with finished R&D projects should be performed. This will be one of the orientations of ENTSO-E’s RD&I activities for the years to come.
- It is paramount to share all new knowledge gained through RD&I, and not restrict it among project partners. This will help to embed outcomes and new competencies within the European electricity industry.
- Custom-tailored solutions are important: one-sizefits-all solutions are not likely, due to regional & national differences of the underlying grid or existing regulatory schemes.
