NEWGEN is gathering a multidisciplinary consortium composed by 10 partners from 5 different European countries (Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Germany & France). The consortium has four industrial partners, two small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), one research and technology organization (RTO) and three Universities. In addition, several external Advisory Board (AB) members will be committed to the project.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) (Coordinator, and leader of WP1 and WP6), is one of the leading RTOs in Europe with an over 75-year track record in solving scientifically and via technology global challenges and turning them into opportunities for the better of society and companies. VTT is a non-for-profit governmental research organization that has over 2100 employees, 440 patent families and extensive research infrastructure from lab to pilot scale. VTT has a strong background in electrical insulation material development. VTT’s main role is to develop physical blending of space charge mitigating additives (in WP1 with UT); develop and manufacture HVDC cable insulation compounds and samples for characterization of material and electrical insulation properties (in WP1 with TAU, SGI and UBO); up-scale the production of large HVDC cable compound batches for cable extrusion (in WP1 & WP2 with MAI); lead Project promotion and clustering task (in WP5) and Project Management (in WP6). https://www.vttresearch.com/en
University of Twente (UT) The “Sustainable Polymer Chemistry“ (SPC) Chair is embedded in the Cluster “Molecules and Materials” at the Universiteit Twente. The SPC group develops novel synthesis strategies and new sustainable polymeric materials to tackle different fundamental questions. The main focus of the group is novel (bio)degradable and chemically modified biobased materials, primarily based on phosphorus-containing polymers or biopolymers, such as starch, cellulose, or lignin. UT’s main role is to design, develop and characterize new chemically functionalized polyolefins for mitigating space charge accumulation in polymeric HVDC insulation matrices based on the molecular control of macroscopic properties (in WP1 together with VTT); work on the up-scaling of the additives for HVDC cable prototype compounds (in WP1 with VTT and MAI); and lead the Design of dissemination and communication plan task (in WP5). https://www.utwente.nl/en/
Maillefer (MAI) (leader of WP2), is world’s leading supplier of cable manufacturing lines especially for high voltage power cables. MAI has delivered close to 600 continuous vulcanization (CV) lines for medium, high and extra high voltage cable production all over the world. MAI’s main role is to provide extrusion and manufacturing expertise to VTT during development of NEWGEN thermoplastic insulation in order to have desired properties for cable application; to develop machinery and process solutions to enable use of thermoplastic insulation in HV power cables efficiently and reliably; to produce model-A cables and HVDC prototype cables using NEWGEN insulation compounds (in WP2, supported by VTT, TAU & SGI). Manufacturing of cable prototype samples will further support material development of VTT and UT as well as provide suitable samples for dielectric characterization by TAU and SGI. Characterization results of cable samples will provide feedback for VTT and UT as well as data for TAG and UBO in their respective works. Industrial/commercial involvement: MAI has delivered cable manufacturing lines to vast majority of European cable manufacturers and have active commercial involvement in the cable industry. MAI is in excellent position to exploit cable manufacturing part of the project as well as widely disseminate use of NEWGEN insulation. https://www.maillefer.net/en/
GreenDelta (GD) is an independent sustainability research, consulting and software development company located in Berlin, Germany, founded in 2004 as a capital company. The company develops and provides international services that cover all aspects of the software and sustainability consulting. Not only GD combines highly professional, skilled, agile as well as open-source software, but also has profound expertise in Life Cycle Assessment, Social Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing, data management, database development and data quality assurance. GD’s main role is to conduct the sustainability assessment and LCA analysis of extruded HVDC cables, including novel additive materials (in WP2, supported by all relevant partners specifically UT, VTT and MAI). Industrial/commercial involvement: GD has modeled several offshore wind farms for industrial clients, including the cable systems. NEWGEN is an opportunity to broaden the modeling, creating detailed models on a really promising solution, supporting and ”safegarding” product development from a sustainability point of view. https://www.greendelta.com/
Altanova Group (TAG) (leader of WP3) is a major player in condition assessment and permanent monitoring of partial discharge activities of electrical assets. Located in Bologna, TAG is an innovative company that develops, manufactures and distributes quality products and provides partial dischargei diagnostic services and pd monitoring solutions that cover all mv and high voltage electrical asset. TAG’s main role is to apply and validate the applicability of HVAC partial discharge data acquisition techniques and parameters to be used for HVDC analysis (in WP3/Task 3.1, with TAU and SGI); to support SGI in development of online leakage current measurement technique for HVDC cables (in WP3/Task 3.2); to develop online global monitoring system architecture for a cable system (in WP3/Task 3.3, supported by SGI); to implement and validate a multi-parameter combined diagnostics for the online global monitoring system (in WP3/Task 3.4, supported by SGI, TAU and UBO); to perform accelerated life tests (in WP4, supported by TAU and UBO). Industrial/commercial involvement: TAG supplies TSOs worldwide with its online monitoring solutions for HVAC electrical assets and the capability given by this project of extending its product portfolio to HVDC solution and the relevant dissemination. https://www.altanova-group.com/en
University of Bologna (UBO) (leader of WP4): The Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi” (DEI) belongs to the University of Bologna, a major state university in Italy. It has the management of teaching courses and of research in the fields of electrical energy, electronics, telecommunications, automation and informatics. UBO’s main role is in development and validation of a life and reliability model of HVDC cables, joints terminations and whole cable systems, and development of life-based design optimization procedure for HVDC cables (in WP4/Tasks 4.1-4.2, supported by TRI, TAU, SGI and TAG); to establish a relationship between pre-fault monitoring data and life model of the cable system together with TAG, TAU and SGI (in WP3/WP4); support TRI in the evaluation of the impact of HVDC cable systems on the overall transmission system reliability (in WP/Task 4.3). https://www.unibo.it/en
Tampere University (TAU): The High Voltage Engineering (HVE) research group belongs to Tampere University, a major university in Finland. The HVE research group carries out high-level scientific research in the area of high voltage engineering, and governs the only independent HV laboratory in Finland, offering research and testing services especially for the industry. TAU’s main role is in initial screening of additives and insulation compounds with VTT (in WP1); dielectric characterization of flat specimens and cable prototype samples (in WP1 and WP2, supported by SGI, UBO and TAG); material characterization using Tampere Microscopy Center (TMC) (in WP1, supported by VTT); assisting TAG in validation of HVAC partial discharge measurement and combined diagnostics for HVDC (in WP3); performing accelerated life tests (ALTs) (in WP4, together with UBO, SGI & TAG). https://www.tuni.fi/en
SuperGrid Institute (SGI) is a research and innovation centre, federating academic and industrial players and encompassing expertise in high voltage networks, energy conversion and direct current systems. SGI’s mission is to offer value-added technologies and services to support our clients in the development of electric power systems that aim to increase energy efficiency and integrate renewable resources into the grid on a wide scale. The ‘DC cable systems’ research department will be involved in NEWGEN project. Its first mission is to study and develop high-performance materials suitable for high dielectric stress in DC cables and accessories as well as innovative methods and testing capabilities for the monitoring, the characterization and the testing of DC cables and accessories. SuperGrid Institute’s main role in the project is in short-term dielectric characterization of flat material specimens and prototype HVDC cable peelings (in WP1-WP2, supported by TAU, UBO, TAG and VTT); dielectric characterization of type A model cables (in WP2 and WP4, supported by TAU, UBO, TAG); development of online leakage current measurement techniques for HVDC cables for detection of pre-fault conditions (in WP3/Task 3.2, supported by TAG). https://www.supergrid-institute.com/
Terna (TRI) is one of Europe’s main electricity transmission grid operators (TSOs), managing the high voltage Italian transmission grid, one of the most modern and technologically advanced in Europe. TRI plays a central role, as directors in the transition of the electricity market towards the use of environmentally friendly sources, guaranteeing a secure and efficient supply to households and businesses. TRI’s main role (in WP4 with UBO) is to evaluate – by combining the life model of the HVDC cable system with grid simulation codes – the impact of the new generation of HVDC cable systems on the overall transmission system reliability, to assess the real capability of the HVDC cable link to act as “firewall” against the spread of disturbances within the synchronous AC transmission system, as well as the impact on system reliability of an increasing number of HVDC links. https://www.terna.it/en
CLIC Innovation (CLI) (Leader of WP5), is a a non-profit cluster management organization facilitating sustainable growth, with main focus areas including bioeconomy, circular economy and energy systems. CLI builds and manages research and innovation collaboration between companies and academia. CLI’s main role is to lead the WP5 on Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation and to act as the Exploitation Manager in NEWGEN; to support VTT and UT in project promotion and clustering (in WP5/Task 5.2); to lead the Innovation, exploitation and IPR management along with the Advisory Board engagement (in WP5/Task 5.3, supported by the whole consortium). https://clicinnovation.fi/
