The development of solutions with the capability of efficiently managing the energy produced by renewable sources and providing fast response as a back-up system or for frequency regulation is a major need in the energy market. While the former has been traditionally satisfied by using batteries, the latter is mainly covered by fossil fuel dependent technologies. Batteries allow for a significant increase of penetration of stochastic renewable energy sources but are unable to satisfy transient events requiring high power responses. In the case of fossil fuel technologies, a set of well-known drawbacks (high operation costs, fuel dependency, pollution and power supply instability, etc.) shows that these solutions are not the most suitable ones from economic and environmental perspectives. In order to overcome this situation, Wind Inertia proposes HESS, a hybrid storage solution that integrates in a single system, ultracapacitors’ (UC) high power density and robustness, Li-ion batteries’ energy storage density, advanced power electronics and control and management systems. The result is a solution capable of combining and optimizing the use of multiple types of energy resources (renewable, fossil fuel dependent and storage). The expected outcome of this proposal is the elaboration of a feasibility study and a business plan aiming at verifying the technological, practical and economic viability of the technology describing their most suitable business model, exploitation strategy, etc.

The project will deploy and demonstrate local storage technologies which have reached TRL 5-6 in a real electrical grid, and will develop ICT tools to exploit the synergies between them, the smart grid and the citizens. The demonstration in this real environment will be driven by five use cases covering low voltage and medium voltage scenarios and a wide range of applications and functionalities. Viable business models will be defined for the cases, and proposal for changes in regulations will be made. Dissemination and exploitation activities will ensure these results drive market uptake of storage technologies. The expected outcomes of the project are: - An energy management system to be used by the energy companies to manage the energy of their associates´ storage devices. - Control systems to integrate management and decision support tools that enable the integration of renewable generation, forecasting and storage systems into the smart-grid. - Innovative storage solutions: • HESS (Hybrid Energy Storage System – Ultracapacitors + Li-ion batteries) • Second Life Electric Vehicle Batteries • Home Hybrid technologies (Ultracapacitors + Li-ion batteries) - Business models to allow easier deployment of energy storage technologies into the electricity market - Proposed changes to regulators in the social and economic areas in order to lower barriers to the deployment of distributed storage for the defined use cases. - Life Cycle Assessment / Life Cycle Cost of the storage systems used in the project The project will achieve topic expected impacts and also environmental and socioeconomic impacts, like carbon emissions reduction and lowering the EU dependency of fossil fuels. The project gives Energy Services Companies (ESCO) a main role in the deployment and exploitation of storage solutions. The consortium foresees the creation of an ESCO to exploit demonstrated business models after the project. The consortium is designed to meet the requirements of this innovation action, with strong industrial members, innovative SMEs, research organizations, experts, DSO and a follower smart-city. This consortium is capable of bringing innovative technologies to socioeconomically viable solutions.

The key to the efficient transmission and conversion of low-carbon electrical energy is the improvement of power electronic devices. Diamond is considered to be the ultimate wide bandgap semiconductor material for applications in high power electronics due to its exceptional thermal and electronic properties. Two recent developments - the emergence of commercially available electronic grade single crystals and a scientific breakthrough in creating a MOS channel in diamond technology, have now opened new opportunities for the fabrication and commercialisation of diamond power transistors. These will result in substantial improvements in the performance of power electronic systems by offering higher blocking voltages, improved efficiency and reliability, as well as reduced thermal requirements thus opening the door to more efficient green electronic systems. These improvements are expected to increase the efficiency of power converters by a factor of 4, yielding a 75% reduction in losses. In this context, the objective of GreenDiamond is to fabricate a 10kV transistor in a high power package, followed by a high voltage AC/DC converter based on such devices. To meet GreenDiamond’s challenging goals, the consortium gathers experts on power device design, diamond growth and characterization, packaging and testing as well as an innovative end-user. Most of the partners are also involved in SiC or GaN technology, allowing the project to benefit from their ample experience and achievements in wide bandgap semiconductors. As far as diamond transistor structure is concerned, unlike GaN and SiC, Europe still has a significant scientific and technological advantage over non-EU competitors. It is therefore extremely important to maintain the competitive edge that will lead the development of truly green electronics in the near to medium term future.