New smart energy era calls for new approaches in education and training. Addressing the rising complexity of intelligent energy systems, the ERIGrid consortium has developed a variety of state-of-the-art materials and tools for students, researchers and other professionals in the ICT and power system domain. All of the resources are open-access, and ERIGrid encourages their use and replicability.
Right from the start of the project, the ERIGrid consortium has committed to knowledge transfer from within the project, providing open access to the project developments and promoting their extensive application. With the aim to support education in the power system testing domain, ERIGrid matched the rising complexity of the subject with cutting-edge technologies and approaches. For example, it was in the framework of ERIGrid that a power-hardware-in-the-loop simulation was used for educational purposes in a systematic way for the very first time. Another example of utilising modern technologies for education is ERIGrid’s remote laboratories applications (Voltage control, microgrids and virtual power plants and Microgrid balancing) that allow users to experience real-lab conditions through online access to an actual laboratory.
Presented in a comprehensive way in the Education section, all the developed resources span over the following topics:
This extensive educational effort has been carried out by the ERIGrid consortium through a number of both online and offline events. The resulting materials aim to help students, recent graduates and young professional engineers to bridge the gap between theory and application by working with a variety of state-of the art tools. Users are encouraged to share this page with their peers, fellow students, and colleagues, and use the materials in their research and work.
ERIGrid developed over 20 various educational resources, including software and programming tools, remote access to labs, lab exercises, webinars, course materials and other e-learning materials.
ERIGrid educational resources are already successfully used at several universities. Over 450 students have already applied ERIGrid exercises, tools, and other resources in their Master or PhD courses and theses.
With over 15 educational events, including workshops, tutorials and schools, ERIGrid reached nearly 450 participants who highly appreciated the innovative lab sessions and the impact on their work and/or thesis.Â
Having organised 6 webinars, ERIGrid shared project solutions to nearly 300 real-time webinar participants. The webinars covered a range of topics: OpSim test and simulation environment, Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation, ICT standards, co-simulation, ERIGrid holistic test description for validating cyber-physical energy systems, and multi-lab integration tests. All webinar recordings are likewise available in the Education section.
ERIGrid granted over 150 researchers, in particular PhD students and young professionals, free access to world-class smart grids laboratories. Funded through the ERIGrid Transnational Access (TA) programme, TA users were able to utilise the laboratories of the ERIGrid consortium for their own experimental research. This very practical experience allowed the users to test their solutions in real-life conditions and thus proved to be a landmark in their education, research, and careers.
Strong focus on practical aspects on top of the underlying theory and applying cutting-edge technologies are the key elements that make ERIGrid’s education approach so innovative and impactful. By using modern technological advances and new educational methodologies, ERIGrid is transforming the education of young researchers, professionals, and university students in power system engineering.
