OREANDA-NEWS. December 04, 2015. European electricity grids are still largely designed to meet the needs of fossil fuel power generation but, with increasing amounts of renewable energy coming online, electricity grids are adapting.

TWENTIES is a European Commission backed project that explores how to incorporate more wind power – both onshore and offshore – into the electricity grids at six different testing sites across Europe.

The project brings a group of Transmission System Operators from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands together alongside two electricity generator companies, three power technology manufacturers, two wind turbine manufacturers and research and development organisations.

TWENTIES explores technical grid-related questions like, what grid services, such as voltage control, can wind power provide? What measures should network operators implement to develop offshore wind? And, how can the electricity transmission grid become more flexible to accommodate variable renewable power?

One of the six test sites – at the Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farm in Denmark – aims to demonstrate how offshore wind farms can be shut down in stormy conditions without jeopardising the safety of the electricity system.

Another demonstration project showed how wind farms can work together with other parts of the electricity system in a ‘virtual power plant’. It found that virtual power plants can reduce electricity prices by 0.25-0.4% by allowing wind farms to provide extra services to the grid like voltage control.

The project cost a total of €56 701 862, including an EU contribution of €31 774 565.