New Danish Project to Support TenneT’s Power Link Concept

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is leading a new project that will develop methods to optimise the management of electrical connections and pave the way for an integrated energy system across the Nordic countries. The project, Multi-DC – Innovative Methods for Optimal Operation of Multiple HVDC Connections and Grids, is supported by Grand Solutions Innovation Fund Denmark. 

It is expected that the findings of the project will be of great value for the Energy Island in the North Sea (Dogger Bank), as an optimised management of the electric connections will enhance the efficiency and lower the cost further, according to DTU.

In the course of the new project, researchers will benefit from the data collection and results from the Kriegers Flak project that will connect and integrate the Danish and German electricity system through an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea.

“We will take advantage of Denmark’s many DC connections where we will test and demonstrate new innovative methods for coordinated control. This will not only strengthen the current system, but also support a future power system based on more renewable energy,” said Professor Jacob Østergaard, Head of the Center of Electric Power and Energy at DTU Electrical Engineering.

A more coordinated management will utilise the power more efficiently; it will reduce losses on longer distances and optimise those AC systems that the DC connections links together, which increases the reliability and efficiency of the overall system. Furthermore, the DC connections are more flexible, which means a better handling of renewable energy, which currently is a challenge for the traditional connections. Optimised management of these connections is therefore an attractive solution – not only for the current power grid, but also in relation to the Danish Government’s Energy Strategy to become independent of fossil fuels in 2050, DTU explained.

Finally, the project addresses the optimal distribution of electricity between neighbouring countries. The findings of this project are expected to reduce the current challenges when one country either produces too much or too little renewable energy.

“Denmark and all of Europe are engaged in a green transition in which renewable energy becomes more important in the power system. Much of the energy comes as the wind blows and the sun shines, which means that the connection between countries (and cross-border electricity) will play an even larger role when we are to ensure power to the electrical contacts in the future,” said Anders Pallesen Jensen, Head of System Optimisation at Energinet.dk.

DTU expects that customers in both Denmark and the neighbouring countries will gain from a more coordinated management of the DC connections, with the neighbouring countries having access to cheaper wind energy and Danish customers seeing a lower cost connected to the transmission network.

The project will take place over the following 4 years and is worth DKK 26.7 million (approx. EUR 3.6 million).