Scheduled on the margins of the G20 Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting (ETMM), this year’s Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and Mission Innovation (MI) meetings will bring together, governments, international organizations, private sector, academia, innovators, civil society, and early career researchers and policymakers over a four-day program featuring high-level ministerial dialogues, global initiative launches, award announcements, minister-CEO roundtables, and a wide array of side-events cutting across diverse themes of clean energy transition. CEM14/MI8 will also feature a public facing technology showcase demonstrating cutting edge advances in clean energy from India and around the world.

ISGAN will organize several events during the meeting:

CEM ISGAN – MI GPFM collaboration for power system transformation, with special focus on policy and private sector engagement

Description

Power systems transformation is a core pillar of net zero transitions and a key CEM-MI focus.
The event will showcase the collaboration between ISGAN and the GPFM following to the MoU signature at CEM13/MI-7 in Pittsburgh. The event will also represent a great opportunity to explore effective ways to drive the public-private sector engagement, as well as to underline the commitment of private sector stakeholders on the ISGAN and GPFM activities. The GPFM will showcase its innovation strategy and Flagship Projects’ activities, while ISGAN will present its last outcomes and will release the KSP workshop/Inter-Working Groups reports. The event will also bring together Minister-level/Senior Officials and CEOs/CTOs in a collaborative environment to express their thoughts, opinions, and perspectives for advancing private sector engagement.
The outcomes from this side event are meant to bolster GPFM and ISGAN collaboration supporting the flexibility of the power market and digitalization of the electricity grid.

CEM-MI collaboration for technology innovation and implementation, policy, and regulatory actions to rapidly decarbonize power systems

Description

The event will showcase collaboration among ISGAN, 21CPP, GPFM, and RD20, as well as the challenges towards power system decarbonization. It will include 1 keynote/scene setting presentation by IEA or IRENA. ISGAN, 21CPP, GPFM, and RD20 will showcase their synergy and innovation strategy, main activities, and related outcomes. A high-level Roundtable on power will be held, addressing implementation, technology innovation, and policy and regulatory actions to rapidly decarbonize power systems. Concluding remarks/key recommendations will be provided by 21CPP and/or ISGAN and/or GPFM and/or RD20 Leads.

Friday 21^st July, 17:30 to 18:30, Ballroom 1

Each year, the ISGAN awards recognize the innovation, integration, and transformation of smart grid systems and policy. This year, we recognize projects that demonstrated excellence in the application of Artificial Intelligence in the electricity sector. The winners and honorees represent a range of fascinating AI applications that include detecting and diagnosing future incidents in the grid, developing and validating virtual power plants to support peer-to-peer market participation, improving the financial and operational efficiency of distribution system operators, and forecasting for distributed energy resources (DERs).

Stay tuned for our announcements, interviews, and webinars with the winners of this year’s awards.

The ongoing energy transition brings about profound changes to electricity generation, transmission, and consumption. As societies strive for zero carbon emissions and increasingly rely on electrification, substantial investments must be made to upgrade and expand electricity grids. This includes adopting new digital smart grid technologies. In this era of rapid grid infrastructure transformation, efficient, transparent, and sustainable planning processes aligned with the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are crucial.

Recognizing the importance of effective grid planning processes for building sustainable electricity grids, ISGAN has undertaken the knowledge sharing project (KSP) titled “Network Planning Under Uncertainty” from September 2022 to July 2023. This project brought together a group of experts and practitioners from 12 countries, along with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), to exchange knowledge and collaboratively develop policy guidance that supports the establishment of robust network planning practices worldwide.

Throughout the project, representatives from transmission and distribution system operators, policymakers, and research institutions engaged in a structured and highly interactive process. They focused on identifying some of the root causes and consequences of various types of uncertainties and complexities in the grid planning process. With the Sustainable Development Goals as the guiding framework, the project then identified key objectives and success factors aimed to address barriers and bottlenecks in network planning.

A significant outcome of the Network Planning Under Uncertainty project is a Policy Brief that serves as a guiding document for policymakers and stakeholders in the sector. This Policy Brief provides actionable recommendations to develop future-proof planning processes, including effective management of uncertainties and complexities inherent in electricity infrastructure.

By leveraging the collective expertise and experiences of diverse stakeholders, the ISGAN Policy Brief offers guidance for policymakers and sector stakeholders to navigate the complexities of grid planning, paving the way for resilient, sustainable, and future-ready electricity infrastructure.

For further information on the Network Planning Under Uncertainty project, please contact:

• Helena Lindquist, ISGAN Communication Working Group, Task 3: Structured Knowledge Exchange
• Susanne Ackeby, ISGAN Working Group 6, Power Transmission & Distribution Systems

Cross-border power flow capacities are identified as key enablers of market integration in Europe, and thus one of the main facilitators of the integration of renewable energy. Horizon2020 projects FARCROSS and TRINITY aims to enhance the cross-border capacities in the South-Eeastern European region, using optimalization solutions and grid enhancing technologies.

Once registered, please check your email inbox and ensure that the invitation email is not marked as spam. Please add “isgan@comillas.edu” and “newsletter@iea-isgan.org” to your email whitelist.

Intended audience

– Policy makers (regional, EU)
– Other Horizon project consortiums
– TSOs
– Other experts in the smart energy domain

Key messages

1) Cross – border power transmission connections in the SEE countries typically suffer from congestion, lack of contingency and market inconsistencies. At the same time, the available RES aren’t injected to the transmission corridors in a cost – effective and secure way, making the need for transmission asset upgrade vital.

2) The 2 projects – FARCROSS and TRINITY – are developing and testing solutions with a different approach. On a software level, T – SENTINEL (TRINITY) remedies grid overloading conditions,. On a hardware level, among other solutions, SmartValves (FARCROSS) are introduced as a means to divert power flows from congested lines. The utilization of both technologies can be expected to offer significant improvements in terms of flexibility, making the cross-border connections more robust and adaptive to the evolution of the electrical power industry.

Further information

https://farcross.eu/

https://trinityh2020.eu/

Once registered, please check your email inbox and ensure that the invitation email is not marked as spam. Please add “isgan@comillas.edu” and “newsletter@iea-isgan.org” to your email whitelist.

The annual ISGAN Awards of Excellence recognize excellence in smart grid projects around the world. At the 8th Award competition, ISGAN honored excellence on the theme: “EV Integration in Smart Grid,” in partnership with the Global Smart Energy Federation (GSEF).

The honorees will share project highlights that can be adapted or adopted in other markets and regions. By showcasing exemplars in the global smart grid community, the event will promote exchange of lessons learned and emerging best practice, as well as the creation of a shared understanding of the value that smarter, more flexible electricity systems can bring.

Speakers

KiJun Park (Korea Electric Power Corporation)
Baerte De Brey (STEDIN)

Intended audience

Policy makers, Junior / Senior engineers / Students

Key messages

In most low-carbon scenarios, electric vehicle (EV) integration is a critical vector for decarbonization of transport. However, effective EV integration presents a variety of high-stakes, technical challenges for electricity network operators that must be resolved for that promise to be realized at a speed and scale consistent with global climate and clean energy objectives. EV charging is a considerable load on the electric grid that can impact the power quality. This webinar would draw your attention to the role that smart grids play for making EV integration possible.

Further information

ISGAN Award 2022 – Excellence of EV Integration in Smart Grid

ISGAN welcomes its new Vice-Chair Wickie Lassen Agdal, delegate from Denmark. Wickie has been programme manager with the Danish Energy Agency since 2017 and has been the national delegate for Denmark in ISGAN since 2019. Wickie says that she embraces her new role as ISGAN Vice Chair as the experience in the ExCo so far has been very enlightening – Her hope is to get more involved, and she will contribute with her knowledge about the topic of Smart Grids and the electricity system. Apart from the new Vice-Chair, ISGAN’s leadership team currently consists of one Chair, Luciano Martini, Italy and two vice-Chairs Russell Conklin, USA and Arun Kumar Mishra, India.

ISGAN also welcomed a  guest participant, Emily Mitchell from the Photovoltaic Power Systems TCP (PVPS) who provided an overview of the recent highlights and publications based on current topics of PVPS. Furthermore, ISGAN’s input was sought for setting up a new task in PVPS concerning system integration of PV.

One focus of the meeting was the six Working Groups of ISGAN. Their strengths and challenges were focused on and further even stronger cooperation between the working groups on an urgent topic is planned.

Further plans were made for ISGAN to contribute with several highly relevant workshops to the upcoming Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Events in India later this year.

Two Side-Events completed the ExCo meeting. The first took place before the meeting and focused on the national priorities and strategies of ISGAN’s participating countries. Valuable input from this side-event provided the foundation for further discussions and steered the direction for topics in which ISGAN should increase its focus.

The second side event was the Knowledge Sharing Project workshop on Network Planning under Uncertainties. More details about this workshop and the whole project with high international participation can be found here.

The Executive Committee of ISGAN will reconvene for the 26^th meeting in September 2023 in The Netherlands.

Within the ever-changing modern power system, power flows are increasingly transitioning towards becoming controllable and bi-directional. The modern power systems are faced with increased challenges pertaining to the integration of new technologies and devices. On the one hand, the need to integrate highly volatile and decentralised renewable energy sources (such as photovoltaic and wind), while on the other hand, power systems are seeing an increase in loads and capacity due to electrification of the transport, storage and heating/cooling sector (e.g., electric vehicles and heat pumps). Additionally, a change in consumer behaviour and evolving markets are also influencing this transition Such activities create increasing complexities and challenges due to the unpredictability in power flows within the power system. In order to overcome these challenges, system operators are relying on the use of flexibility which offer a wide range of opportunities and sought-after solution by providing a wide range of important services, which can enable system operators in operating their networks in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. However, utilisation of these resources to their full potential requires increased coordination between all relevant stakeholders in the power system. This increased interaction will not only allow for system operators to support each other in the optimal use of their respective grids, but also ensure that operating strategies in one network do not have any negative impact on the other. Furthermore, increased interactions with large and small system end users will allow for increased participation and therefore increased opportunities available from flexible resources.

The following video presents the concepts related to the electricity transition and the challenges faced by system operators when integrating flexibility into their networks. Furthermore, through the implementations of coordination schemes, systems operators can work together in order to ensure the safe, secure and reliable electric systems of the future.

Building on the successes of past knowledge sharing projects on smart grid solutions, ISGAN has now embarked on an ambitious international initiative focused on how to best achieve adequate power grids in line with global sustainable development goals.

Engaging representatives from Transmission and Distribution System Operators, policy makers and research institutions in 13 countries as well as IRENA (the International Renewable Energy Agency), the Network Planning and Decision-Making under Uncertainty project deep-dives into the complex, multifaceted, and challenging task of developing network infrastructure as an enabler of low-carbon electricity, in a quickly evolving energy landscape.

During the first stages of the knowledge sharing process, experts have shared their insights and experiences regarding the sources and nature of uncertainty and complexity in network planning. The project now turns to co-creating concrete and globally relevant policy advice aimed to increase the ability of relevant stakeholders to deal with the inherent uncertainty and complexity in the network planning process.

The year-long project that kicked off in September 2022, involves a series of interlinked activities, including both digital and in-person workshops, as well as analytical tasks. The objective is to produce actionable policy advice in time for the next Clean Energy Ministerial Meeting (CEM14, July 2023 in Bengaluru, India). Next up is an intensive and highly interactive 2-day workshop in Berlin, 23-24 March, held in conjunction with the 25th meeting of the ISGAN Executive Committee.

For more information, please contact:

• ISGAN Communication Working Group/Structured Knowledge Exchange: Helena Lindquist
• ISGAN Working Group 6, Power Transmission & Distribution Systems: Susanne Ackeby