Superconducting medium-voltage cables, based on HTS and MgB2 materials, have the potential to become the preferred solution for energy transmission from many renewable energy sites to the electricity grid. Onshore HTS cables provide a compact design, which preserves the environment in protected areas and minimizes land use in urban areas where space is limited. Offshore HTS cables compete on cost and – compared to conventional HVDC cables – have the clear benefit of eliminating the need for large and costly converter stations on the offshore platforms. MgB2 cables in combination with safe liquid hydrogen transport directly from renewable energy generation sites to e.g., ports and heavy industries, introduce a new paradigm of two energy vectors used simultaneously in the future. Both HTS, cooled with liquid nitrogen, and MgB2, cooled with liquid hydrogen, MVDC superconducting cables will be designed, manufactured, and tested, including a six-month test for the MgB2 cable. For grid protection, a high-current superconducting fault current limiter module will be designed and tested. Furthermore, the technology developments will be supported by techno-economic analyses, and a study of elpipes, large cross-section conductors for high-power transfer, will be performed. The superconductor technology developments will accelerate the energy transition towards a low-carbon society by the direct key impacts of the project: • 30% LCOE reduction for offshore windfarm export cables • 15% reduction in total cost of entire offshore windfarms • Possibility to transfer 0.5 GW in the form of H2 and 1 GW electric energy in one combined system • Installation of cables for 90 GW transmission capacity by the consortium partners by 2050 • Creation of 5 000 European jobs within the field of sustainable energy

Renewable energy sources are key enablers to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and to cope with the anthropogenic global warming. The intermittent behaviour of them and their limited storage capabilities present new challenges to power system operators in maintaining power quality and reliability. However, the increased availability of advanced automation and communication technologies has also provided new intelligent solutions to these challenges. Previous work has presented various new methods to operate highly interconnected power grids with corresponding components in a more effective way. As a consequence of these developments the traditional power system is transformed into a cyber-physical system, a Smart Grid. Previous and ongoing research activities have mainly focused on validating certain aspects of Smart Grids, but until now no integrated approach for analysing and evaluating complex configurations in a cyber-physical systems manner is available. The lack of system validation approaches for Smart Grids is especially addressed by ERIGrid. By providing a Pan-European research infrastructure ERIGrid supports the technology development as well as the roll out of Smart Grid solutions and concepts in Europe. It tackles a holistic, cyber-physical systems based approach by integrating 18 European research centres and institutions with outstanding research infrastructures and jointly develops common methods, concepts, and procedures. ERIGrid also integrates and enhances the necessary research services for analysing, validating and testing Smart Grid configurations. System level support and education for industrial and academic researchers in is provided as well to foster future innovation. ERIGrid addresses these challenging aims by providing a single entry point to the provided research infrastructure and offering a broad spectrum of services to researchers active in Smart Grids. This will strengthen the technical leadership of Europe in the energy domain.