The European project HYPERRIDE (HYbrid Provision of Energy based on Reliability and Resiliency via Integration of DC Equipment) implements 3 outstanding demo sites and unites 10 partners from industry and RTOs coming from 6 European countries.

What is HYPERRIDE about?

Many renewable energy sources like wind or photovoltaics are generating direct current (DC), which must be converted to alternating current (AC) for feed-in to the grid. This causes significant losses of electricity and potential hosting capacity problems. So, how can we adapt our grids to use direct current?

Our project aims to contribute to the implementation of DC and hybrid AC-DC grids for the actual electricity grid and in homes.

We foster digitalisation, we contribute to the energy transition by developing technical solutions to overcome existing barriers and allow the successful roll-out of new infrastructure concepts throughout Europe.

HYPERRIDE covers with its demo-pilots all levels of system integration, starting with grid planning and automation, to safety & security issues to assess the power quality, up to ICT solutions and developing components like converters, circuit breakers or measurement units for testing and validation.

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What are the 3 Demo-sites about?

Demo Site Aachen, Germany

The German demo-site run by RWTH research institute is based on available infrastructure and converter technologies in Megawatt power range developed in previous projects. It provides a modular design, easily reconfigurable to test different network architectures. The goal in HYPERIDE is to demonstrate different hybrid AC-DC architectures to increase the technology readiness level of key enabling'technologies and systems.

Demo Site Lausanne, Switzerland

The Swiss pilot at the EPFL consists of the Distributed Electrical System Laboratory (DESL) and the Power Electronics Laboratory (PEL) which are interconnected. The rationale of this pilot is to test optimal control strategies for hybrid AC-DC grids as well as adaptive reconfiguration approaches. Another focus of the demo is on protection coordination and stability investigations of AC-DC hybrid grids.

Demo Site Terni, Italy

The Italian pilot is run by ASM Terni. Its rationale is to demonstrate'the potential offered by a more modular (cellular) smart'hybrid AC-DC decentralized operation of a MV/LV electricity grid, with a view to increase grid operation'efficiency, reduce reverse power flow towards MV due to Photovoltaics and'to reduce a potential cyber-security risk.

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What is HYPERRIDE's impact beyond?

The diversity in the pilot environments demonstrates the functionality and grants the replicability of our setup to other areas. A virtual connection of the pilot sites will be established allowing an intensive interaction.

Project Coordinator Gerhard Jambrich from AIT Austrian Institute of Technology explains the impact beyond the project: 'We collect input and contribute to standardisation and regulatory committees, the community of energy practitioners, and our industrial partners.'

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Where do I get more information on HYPERRIDE?

We invite you to subscribe to our Newsletter (https://hyperride.eu/) to receive regular updates. HYPERRIDE project!

Project results are available via open access Zenodo platform (https://zenodo.org/communities/hyperride/?page=1&size=20 )