Collaboration between Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center and the ENEA Group will focus on using innovative digital technologies in the electric power industry. The R&D center and the power industry company have signed a letter of intent to define the nature and direction of activities related to using digital technologies in the electric power industry. Joint projects of ENEA and PSNC will mainly concern research and development works as well as innovative products and services to be offered to ENEA’s customers.
The collaboration will include using the Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) and Smart Grid data analysis for technical and business decision making. The calculations will support effective management of prosumer installations, micro grids and zero-emission communities and help verify new products and services.
PSNC will contribute to developing and checking a concept of an integration system with temporarily restricted power consumption. The system might be used as a power reserve to balance the National Power System or local electrical grids at peak demand. Collaboration with PSNC is also expected to ensure protection against cybercrime and cyberterrorism in ENEA’s network, systems and installations.
Collaboration with PSNC fits perfectly into the Development Strategy of the ENEA Group. In the incoming years, energy companies will have to focus on the development and effective management of intelligent electrical grids. It is an investment in better power safety and new services rendered by power distributors and suppliers alike. I am certain that thanks to our joint action we will evolve innovative solutions to enhance the contribution of digital technologies into the development of innovative power industry to support the transformation of our sector, said Paweł Majewski, President of the ENEA Management Board.
One of the key directions in the development of the ENEA Group is building and managing energy islands which include prosumer installations, renewable energy companies, energy consumers, battery storage systems, electric car chargers and data management from many sensors and meters. This sector will also be developed with PSNC: Digital transformation of the economy is now closely related to new monitoring methods and increasing energy effectiveness. Notwithstanding the obvious significance for counteracting the adverse climate changes, such optimization also has a considerable economic dimension, mainly for extensive data centers which offer services for science and economy. Here a real challenge is interoperability of many infrastructures in the context of using artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. PSNC not only acts as an operator of a pan-European information infrastructure, but has also been performing research and development works on simulation and modelling in energy efficiency for years now. We perceive our partnership with the ENEA Group as a natural consequence of our activity which leads to development of an ecosystem of digital innovation acceleration that is beneficial for both sides − emphasized dr inż. Cezary Mazurek, Director of PSNC.
The collaboration with PSNC will involve a number of the ENEA Group companies. We want to combine resources and expertise of an R&D entity with professional qualifications and experience of practicing power engineers. We will use the acquired data and information to test and optimize new solutions in our own infrastructure and make offers of multi energy products. It is our desire to collaborate closely with research institutes engaged in our sector. Today we are happy to welcome an experienced partner that belongs to the global network of research and development, said Lech Żak, Vice-President of the ENEA Group for Strategy and Development.
PSNC is now extending its research and laboratory infrastructure at the premises of an airport in a town of Kąkolewo. It will host R&D works in collaboration with commercial partners, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), 5G networks and intelligent infrastructure to produce, store and use energy from renewable resources.
The airport premises will seat a hangar with a laboratory and server room to do R&D works on UAV, a 5G network hub, PV (photovoltaic) micro-installations, a PV farm and energy storage. The infrastructure will serve as a unique plane for building, testing and optimizing new solutions for effective management of energy balancing with infrastructure of a distribution company – ENEA Operator. As part of the collaboration, PSNC and ENEA Operator are implementing R&D projects using pilot installations co-financed from national (National Center for Research and Development) and European programs.
The signatories of the letter of intent will also jointly develop photo and video analysis software to analyze materials registered by drones which remotely monitor the infrastructure. They will be used during power grid inspections, both periodic and after violent weather phenomena, and also to build 3D maps for virtual and extended reality or advanced picture analysis to ensure reliability of power grids and equipment and people’s safety.
As a leading R&D entity in information and communication technologies, we boast vast and growing infrastructure potential as well as appropriate know-how in developing technologies, services and applications for digital transformation of economy, including the electric power sector. Digital transformation of the energy system provides us with great new challenges that we want to face in close collaboration with the ENEA Group. There is an urgent need to develop new IT solutions to increase power efficiency and evolve innovative services to meet the new demand from decentralization of power systems, intelligent networks that combine various renewable energy sources and power storage, said dr hab. inż. Krzysztof Kurowski, Deputy Director of PSNC.
