Research Infrastructure
Definition
Research infrastructures are the backbone of scientific and technological advancement, providing the necessary tools, facilities, and platforms to foster innovation and experimentation. In the context of energy systems, research infrastructures play a crucial role in the development, testing, and validation of cutting-edge technologies, such as renewable energy systems, smart grids, and advanced power electronics. These infrastructures range from large-scale experimental facilities and testing labs to simulation platforms and data repositories, supporting both fundamental research and applied development.
In the evolving energy landscape, research infrastructures are essential for enabling the transition to decarbonized and decentralized energy systems. They facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources, storage systems, electric vehicles, and emerging grid technologies. As energy systems become increasingly complex, there is a growing demand for testbeds and laboratories that can replicate real-world conditions, providing a controlled environment for testing new concepts, optimizing control strategies, and ensuring the robustness and reliability of system components.
Challenges
The development and enhancement of research infrastructures face several key challenges, including:
- Current limitations of existing infrastructures, which often lack the adaptability to accommodate new technologies such as grid-forming inverters, V2X applications, and hybrid renewable systems, and cannot fully replicate dynamic grid conditions or real-world scenarios for accurate testing.
- The need for enhanced flexibility and scalability in research infrastructures to meet the growing complexity of energy systems, especially with the increasing penetration of DERs, electric vehicles, and flexible loads, and to support a wide range of configurations, from small residential systems to large-scale microgrids.
- The development of interoperability standards for testing protocols, ensuring compatibility and seamless integration of technologies from different vendors, as well as establishing frameworks that enable the testing of diverse systems like grid-forming inverters, AI-based controllers, and digital twins.
- The advanced modelling and simulation requirements that demand high-fidelity models to accurately simulate complex interactions between power electronics, control systems, and grid infrastructure, as well as the integration of Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (P-HIL) and simulation tools to improve testing accuracy.
- The need for robust cybersecurity measures to safeguard research infrastructures against cyber threats, especially in cyber-physical systems, alongside improved data management systems to handle large volumes of data generated during tests and to support advanced analytics.
- The need for global collaboration and data sharing through shared testing platforms and knowledge exchange, fostering international cooperation in research and accelerating the development of standardized solutions across regions.
