Continuation of Free Access to Leading Smart Grid Labs in ERIGrid 2.0

The H2020 project ERIGrid 2.0 which starts on April 1, 2020 invites all interested engineers involved in the domains of power system testing, smart grids and distributed energy to receive free funding to access the best laboratories of Europe and perform their own experimental research. On top if this, you have a possibility of Virtual Access to the laboratory of your choice.  Mark your calendars for the following deadlines and submit your applications:

Due to COVID-19 situation the first calls for Lab  Access user projects are being postponed. The first call has opened in Fall 2020 and is expected to close in Winter 2020.  For further details please have a look at the ERIGrid 2.0 Lab Access site!

Further calls will be closing regularly on a four months basis. These dates apply to proposals for physical Transnational Access. 

If your application is successful, you will receive funding for your research stay at the location of the laboratory you selected, including funding for:

  • travelling
  • accommodation
  • lab access to ERIGrid testing and simulation facilities
  • access to concentrated know-how and best practices in the field of smart grid systems and DER, such as: power system components characterisation and evaluation, smart grid ICT / automation validation, co-simulation, real-time simulation and Power/Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), and others.

All lab operation costs, travelling and accommodation expenses will be paid by ERIGrid 2.0.

You can find examples of already completed projects by successful Transnational Access (TA) users in ERIGrid-1 here and their success stories here.

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To stay informed about the TA programme and detailed descriptions of the laboratories, bookmark this page or just subscribe to the ERIGrid newsletter to receive all the updates  directly in your inbox.

Available for your funded research are the laboratories of the following research centers: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico (RSE), KEMA Labs, RWTH Aachen, Fraunhofer IEE,  Technical University of Denmark, Delft University of Technology, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, SINTEF Energy Research (SIN), University of Strathclyde, University of Cyprus, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems – National Technical University of Athens (ICCS), OFFIS Institute for Information Technology, Ormazabal Corporate Technology, HEDNO – Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator, TECNALIA Research & Innovation, and Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving.

About Previous Lab Access in ERIGrid-1

Below you can find detailed information about the TA programme, the application process and the laboratories that were available in the  ERIGrid-1 project.

 
Starting from 2016, the ERIGrid project has been providing free laboratory access to engineers working in the domain of smart grids and DER. Successful applicants gained access to special equipment and advanced installations for testing and validation of their developed smart grid concepts in Europe’s top laboratories of ERIGrid partners.
 

Having organised six rounds of Transnational Access in the past three years, ERIGrid has just completed the evaluation phase of the submitted proposals in the last 6th call. A number of TA user projects are still to be carried out in 2019-2020.

TA laboratories

In the document “TA description” you will find detailed information on the installations and equipment provided by each laboratory.

Application process:

Identify your experimental needs: empirical topic and testing/validation goals

STEP 1

Select potential labs (up to 3) which are suitable for your topic

STEP 2

Build up your team or decide to apply as an individual user

STEP 3

Write the proposal using this template

STEP 4

Your proposal will be evaluated by independent reviewers from this list — Please point out any names that may involve a conflict of interest

STEP 5

Submit your proposal via the following

STEP 6

Your proposal must meet the following criteria:

  • Scientific and technical relevance, originality and innovation, methodology, robust and realistic test/evaluation approach
  • Prospect of knowledge enhancement at the research infrastructures
  • Completeness and organisation of the proposal, clear definition of the objectives and expected results, relevance of the proposed dissemination actions, justified amount of requested access
  • Compliance with European RTD policies and priorities; prospect of social impact and impact on EU industry. New users, young researchers, female researchers are especially welcome.

FAQ

The typical duration of a TA user project may vary from about one week up to one month. Longer stays up to two or three month are in principle possible but in such a case the targeted hosting infrastructure should be contacted in advance in order to check lab availability and potential budget restrictions.

The User Group (UG) leader and the majority of the UG must work in a country other than the one where the requested infrastructure is located.

Yes, you must be able to publicly report about the conducted project.

The entire evaluation process is expected to be completed in about one to two months after the submission deadline.

You need to be employed by organisations located in the European Union or associated European states. Until the 5th call limited access is also provided to applicants from non-EU countries and other developing countries (please read the guidelines for more information); i.e., for the 6th call only applications from European Union or associated European states are possible.

For any questions you can contact us via the following

Documents you need:

Procedure and Rules
User Project Proposal Template

Detailed descriptions of the labs you can choose from:

  1. AIT SmartEST Lab
  2. Ormazabal Corporate Technology (OCT)
  3. University of Strathclyde, D-NAP Laboratory
  4. Oulu Smart Grid Laboratory, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
  5. Grenoble Institute of Technology
  6. SINTEF
  7. DNV GL
  8. Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC), University of Strathclyde
  9. Fraunhofer IEE
  10. CEA INES PRISMES
  11. Multipower Laboratory, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
  12. CRES
  13. OFFIS Institute for Information Technology
  14. TECNALIA
  15. Delft University of Technology
  16. NTUA (National Technical University of Athens)
  17. Technical University of Denmark (DTU): SYSLAB/ICL
  18. RSE
  19. HEDNO, Electricity Meters Laboratory of Laboratories and Radios Section (L&RS)
ERIGrid partners offer a wide range of installations and invaluable competences to assist successful applicants with conducting experiments. Such a common framework of applied smart grid expertise will accelerate the development of an integrated pan-European research infrastructure.
Thomas Strasser (AIT)
Coordinator of ERIGrid
out of 97 submitted user projects have already gained free Transnational Access!
Check them out here!