The PARITY project takes off to improve grid flexibility
The European project PARITY is launching with the aim of developing a series of solutions to enhance the flexibility of electricity distribution grids. These innovations will increase the durability and efficiency of the grid, as well as improve real-time control, in a general context where electricity production is expected to be 50% from renewable sources by 2030.
Additionally, PARITY will go beyond traditional grid management practices by developing a local flexibility management platform that integrates IoT (Internet of Things) and Blockchain technologies.
With this, the project will improve the capacity to manage electric load systems, including electric vehicles, and the operations of the distribution grid to ensure both supply security and the use of flexible products while integrating the variability of renewable energies.
An international consortium of 17 partners from Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and Austria will be responsible for carrying out this project over the next three years. The project is funded by the European Commission through its H2020 program with €7.1 million.
Among them, Fundación CIRCE, Grupo Cuerva, Urbener, and the University of Deusto make up the national partners. PARITY aims for its solutions to be replicable across different European countries, and the project expects to achieve economic savings of €125 billion in new distribution network investments by promoting flexibility; a reduction of 100 million tons of CO2 emissions; and the creation of 3,000 to 10,000 new jobs by 2050.
The project will be divided into three phases. First, the technical and functional specifications of the solutions and identification of stakeholders will be defined. Next, the technology will be developed and designed, integrated into the system, and the solutions will be tested. These solutions will be implemented in four pilot sites located in Spain, Greece, Sweden, and Switzerland.
CIRCE will lead the work packages related to grid management and optimization, as well as the definition of the system architecture and use cases. CIRCE will actively participate in the Spanish pilot, developing control algorithms to improve grid flexibility, and will also implement a STATCOM to enhance grid stability.
