Source - ENTSO-E RDI Roadmap 2024-2034 (2024)

Full title: ENTSO-E RDI Roadmap 2024–2034 Publisher: ENTSO-E (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity) Year: 2024 (published July 2024) Pages: 36 File: Raw/PDF extractions/entso-e_RDI_roadmap_2024-2034_240710/entso-e_RDI_roadmap_2024-2034_240710.md

About the document

The ENTSO-E RDI Roadmap is legally mandated under Art. 30(1)(i) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 (Electricity Market Regulation), which requires ENTSO-E to adopt a rolling 10-year programme on research, development and innovation. The Roadmap is updated every 4 years. This 2024–2034 edition is the third major iteration. It was prepared by ENTSO-E’s Working Group Research, Development and Innovation Planning (WG RDIP), with support from RSE (Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico, Italy). ENTSO-E has 40 members; Svenska kraftnät contributed to the drafting team (Valentinas Dubickas).

Structure: 3 Clusters, 6 Missions, 90+ Milestones

The Roadmap is organized into three strategic Clusters, each divided into two Missions, with a total of 90+ measurable milestones to guide TSO RDI activity through 2034.

Cluster 1: Power Grid → Mission 1 + Mission 2
Cluster 2: Digitalised Grid → Mission 3 + Mission 4
Cluster 3: One-System → Mission 5 + Mission 6

Milestones are classified by time horizon: near-term (2024–2027), mid-term (2027–2031), and long-term (2031–2034).

Innovation drivers

The Roadmap identifies innovation drivers from two directions:

Top-down (EU institutional): Clean Energy Package, European Green Deal, REPowerEU, Fit for 55, Grid Action Plan, TYNDP 2022 scenarios.

Bottom-up (TSO operational needs):

• Variable renewables integration (wind, solar)
• Load growth from electrification (EVs, heat pumps, industry)
• Grid stability challenges from inverter-based resources
• Cross-border and offshore grid expansion
• System flexibility from distributed sources

Two drivers that are new in this edition (not in prior roadmaps):

1. Artificial intelligence — as both a transformational tool and a dedicated research topic
2. Hydrogen — as a cross-sector integration challenge with direct implications for grid planning and operation

Cluster 1 — Power Grid

Mission 1: Enhance grid use and sustainability

Focus: maximizing use of existing infrastructure while reducing its environmental footprint.

Key milestones:

• Dynamic Line Rating (DLR): real-time line capacity calculation; near-term milestone — increases grid throughput without hardware investment (Dynamic Line Rating)
• Digital twin for asset management: asset health monitoring, optimized maintenance scheduling, reduced lifecycle costs
• SF6-free switchgear: eliminating sulphur hexafluoride (a potent greenhouse gas) from high-voltage equipment; multiple near-term milestones
• Building Information Modelling (BIM): digital asset registry for grid infrastructure; supports lifecycle management
• Circular economy: materials reuse, end-of-life frameworks for grid equipment
• Power flow control (phase shifting transformers, FACTS): better use of existing transmission paths

Mission 2: HVDC and offshore grids

Focus: expanding the transmission backbone via HVDC and enabling the offshore renewable buildout.

Key milestones:

• Meshed/Multi-Terminal HVDC (MT HVDC): moving beyond point-to-point HVDC links toward an interconnected HVDC mesh; depends on HVDC circuit breaker development and protection schemes
• Floating offshore wind platforms: integrating floating wind (deeper waters than fixed-foundation) into the grid; offshore grid connection standards
• Offshore grid regulatory framework: harmonized technical and commercial rules for shared offshore grid infrastructure (relevant to North Sea interconnections)
• HVDC circuit breakers: a key enabling technology for MT HVDC; currently at prototype stage

Cluster 2 — Digitalised Grid

Mission 3: Hybrid AC/DC stability

Focus: maintaining system stability as conventional synchronous generators are replaced by inverter-based resources (IBR).

Key milestones:

• Power Electronics Interfaced Devices (PEID) / Grid-forming inverters: devices that can provide synthetic inertia and voltage support, replacing the stability contributions of rotating generators; flagged as a critical near-term priority. Grid forming capability (mentioned in Technical Vision glossary) is also a DSO concern.
• Stability tools for hybrid AC/DC networks: simulation models and real-time monitoring for combined AC/DC topologies
• Quantum computing for grid optimization: long-term milestone; potential to solve combinatorial optimization problems (e.g., optimal power flow at EU scale) currently intractable for classical computers

Mission 4: Control and interoperability

Focus: digital infrastructure for grid monitoring, control, and cross-operator coordination.

Key milestones:

• Digital twin for grid control: real-time digital representation of the transmission grid for operational decisions
• AI-assisted control room support: decision-support tools for system operators; augmented reality interfaces
• Wide Area Monitoring Systems (WAMS): synchronized phasor measurement across the synchronous area; enables detection of inter-area oscillations and coordinated emergency response
• Point-on-Wave (POW) measurement: high-resolution waveform capture for power quality analysis and fault diagnosis
• Augmented reality for field operations and maintenance

Cluster 3 — One-System

Mission 5: Flexibility assessment and markets

The mission most directly relevant to this wiki. Focus: enabling distributed flexibility from DSOs, prosumers, and new market actors to contribute to system-level operation.

Key milestones:

• TSO-DSO coordination frameworks: standardized protocols for shared flexibility activation, prequalification data exchange, and visibility of distribution-connected resources. Directly links to Network Code on Demand Response workstreams.
• ICT platforms for distributed flexibility: scalable digital infrastructure enabling many small DER to participate in flexibility markets — aggregation platforms, APIs, real-time communication. Directly relevant to Aggregation, Virtual Power Plant, SWITCH, NODES.
• Flexibility assessment tools: methodologies and software for TSOs to quantify available flexibility from distributed sources, informing reserve procurement and redispatching decisions. Links to FNA process and FNAM.
• AI/ML for flexibility optimization: machine learning for DER forecasting, flexibility scheduling, and market clearing; blockchain for transparency in flexibility settlement (flagged as experimental)
• Digital twin application for enhanced grid flexibility: using system-level digital twins to evaluate flexibility service impacts before activation

Mission 6: Cross-sector integration

Focus: integrating electricity with other energy vectors and sectors.

Key milestones:

• Hydrogen integration: grid planning and operation methodologies for a power system with significant Power-to-X / hydrogen loads; understanding electrolysis load profiles and their flexibility potential
• Electrification assessment: tools for quantifying the impact of large-scale EV, heat pump, and industrial electrification on grid needs; feeding into scenario planning and investment frameworks
• Harmonized role model: cross-sector standards for roles (DSO, TSO, aggregator, energy community) and data exchange across electricity, gas, heat, and hydrogen; links to NC DR harmonized role model work

Technopedia link

The Roadmap integrates with ENTSO-E’s Technopedia — a catalog of ~100 power system technologies classified into three categories:

• Asset technologies (linked to Clusters 1–2): voltage source converters, phase shifting transformers, STATCOM, DLR, HVDC circuit breakers
• Digital technologies (linked to all clusters): AI (many topics), digital twins (M1, M4, M5), cybersecurity tools
• Flexibility technologies (linked to all clusters): virtual power plants (M5), demand response, battery technology, market coordination platforms, hydrogen technologies

The Roadmap → Technopedia link creates a pathway: achieving milestones advances Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) of underlying technologies. This creates a feedback loop between RDI and technology deployment.

Implementation and resources

Effort estimate: each of the 40 ENTSO-E members needs on average 5.6 FTE per year to address identified RDI milestones — a lower bound since it excludes contributions from research centers, universities, and technology developers. Total implied: ~224 FTE/year across ENTSO-E membership just from TSOs.

Next steps: ENTSO-E will develop an RDI Implementation Plan following this Roadmap, outlining specific project concepts addressing near-term priorities. Calls for:

• EC innovation programmes (Horizon Europe topics) to align with Roadmap milestones
• Improved regulatory frameworks enabling TSOs to invest directly in RDI (not just via external projects)
• Both internal TSO investment and external collaborative funding used in parallel

Policy anchor: The Energy Council’s May 2024 conclusions on electricity grid infrastructure as a critical enabler of energy transition are cited as political backing for the resource ask.

Relevance to existing wiki topics