After three years and with the participation of INESC TEC, EDP-CNET, EDP Distribuição, EDP Renováveis and GP-TECH (Green Power Technologies), it was possible to create a solution entitled “Smart Energy-Storing Modular Technology with advanced Energy Management System for Renewable Energy Systems”.

Being a storing device with provision of grid support services, the developed technology can increase the flexibility of the power system, thus allowing the increase of the secure integration of renewable energy sources.

“The solution that we developed under the SMARES project is innovative, not only for the range of services that it provides, but also for its modularity. It’s a technology that can be portable, being possible to assemble it in containers, thus reducing the need for civil construction works and licenses”, explains Bernardo Silva, senior researcher of INESC TEC’s Centre for Power and Energy Systems (CPES).

The SMARES project, which started in 2015, began by gathering the main requirements imposed by the global grid codes for wind power interconnection. It was from this analysis that the functionalities that the converter should have were defined in order to cover a wide range of market. The next phase focused on the development of models for transient stability studies, being applied to a distribution grid with high wind penetration.

“With this test, it was possible to assess the benefits of associating this converter to a specific wind farm, given the fulfilment of the system services”, explains the researcher from CPES.

The technologies are now available in the market through GP-TECH for wind farms promoters or utilities.

The INESC TEC team that participated in this project was composed of Bernardo Silva, Carlos Moreira and João Pedro Aguiar.

The SMARES project was funded by the ERA-NET Smart Grid Plus programme with the support of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC and UP-FEUP.