wiredinUSA January 2015

INDEX

sharing power across europe

Professor Jenkins added: “New wind farms are likely to be placed offshore, where wind speeds are higher and turbines less intrusive. As offshore wind power is generated a long way from where it is used, we need to find better ways of transporting the power to the onshore grid. Increasing our use of wind power will also support the future electrification of heating and transport, which could make a big difference to carbon emissions and reliance on fuel imports.” MEDOW (Multi-terminal DC grid for offshore wind) is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network funded by the European Commission and is coordinated by Cardiff University’s School of Engineering. The team is working with a total of five universities and six industrial organizations.

Researchers at Cardiff University are working with Belgium’s Leuven University on the MEDOW project – the development of a “super grid” to enable sharing of renewable power across Europe. Professor Nick Jenkins, leader of energy at Cardiff School of Engineering, said: “Wind power is a source of clean, renewable electricity. We need to make more of it to become less reliant on expensive imported fossil fuels. In 2012, over half of the energy that the EU consumed was imported from outside the union.” MEDOW is working to develop a DC grid – an efficient way of transmitting and sharing power. The premise is that a pan-European grid, rather than single point-to-point connections, will reinforce reliability and help balance power supply and demand.

EUROPE NEWS

wiredInUSA - January 2015

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