ENTSO-E releases draft RDI roadmap to 2034

ENTSO-E has released its draft research, development and innovation roadmap 2024-2034 for Europe’s transmission system for consultation.

The roadmap, which is a mandated requirement for ENTSO-E on a four-yearly update basis, is aimed to identify the most important research and innovation areas for the electricity transmission sector over the next ten years.

The draft roadmap reads that the main drivers that guided it are the development and implementation of technically viable, reliable and sustainable solutions to develop significant system flexibilities, both short and long duration, timed with the future system needs and the gradual phase-out of fossil fuel generation.

The roadmap aims to improve the operation of the power system to rise up to the challenge of the much more dynamic future power system of systems that includes the management of a wide portfolio of flexibilities and to accelerate the achievement of the clean energy transition targets set by EU policies while keeping the electricity system secure and efficient.

As such, and based on and a continuation of the RDI Roadmap 2020-2030, it focuses on topics related to TSO business processes, such as coordinated security of operation, maximising capacity in a secure way, balancing between generation and demand, dynamic stability or coordinated network planning.

Have you read?
Europe needs to find ‘middle ground between utopia and reality’ on grids
Tech Talk | Europe’s electricity grids challenges

In particular it is based on three ‘clusters’ of innovation priorities, each with two ‘flagships’ representing key areas for the future power systems with a total of over 90 milestones.

These are:

• Cluster 1 – Power grid: backbone for the energy system – to improve resilience, efficiency and sustainability of power grids from planning, procurement, construction to utilisation.

Flagships are ‘Enhanced grid use and sustainability’ and ‘Onshore and offshore grid development and integration’

• Cluster 2 – Digitalised power systems – to improve the management of hybrid electricity grids with ubiquitous digitalisation.

Flagships are ‘Ensure secure and stable operation of the hybrid AC/DC grid’ and ‘Enhance control and interoperability through digitalisation’.

• Cluster 3 – One-system of integrated systems ­– to improve system flexibility and exploit cross-sector integration valorising resources from the whole energy system.

Flagships are ‘Enhance flexibility assessment and market mechanisms’ and ‘Tools and strategies for optimal cross sectors integration’.

“The successful implementation of this roadmap will enhance existing grid use and the utilisation of HVDC links, the widespread electrification of the energy use, the integration of cutting-edge technologies, the flexibility needs assessment of the electric grids, new methods required for stability management in the presence of wide spread power electronic devices, the exploitation of digital solutions and the smart integration of the electricity system with other energy sectors such as transport, heating and cooling and hydrogen,” the draft document states.

Further, achieving the milestones highlighted requires strong RDI efforts and funding instruments adequate to the scale of the challenges.

In this view, ENTSO-E has estimated from a preliminary analysis of the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) engineers required to develop the RDI activities to duly address all the innovation comprised in the six flagships that each of the 40 members of the ENTSO-E need an average of 5.6 FTEs to achieve their successful implementation.

As this does not reflect the efforts from other stakeholders, this is thus a lower bound of the overall effort required to successfully deliver the milestones.

The draft RDI roadmap is open to public consultation to June 7, 2024.