A team of researchers at Cardiff University is working with colleagues from the University of Leuven in an attempt to find ways of developing a so-called ‘super grid’ for sharing wind power across Europe.
The two universities hope that their research project — known as MEDOW (loosely standing for Multi-terminal DC grid for Offshore Wind) and funded by the European Commission — will form the basis of a pan-European electricity transmission network to deliver a single European electricity market, develop sustainable-energy technology and create jobs.
Professor Nick Jenkins, ‘leader of energy’ at the 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. A pan-European grid, rather than single point-to-point connections, will re-inforce reliability and help balance power supply and demand.
“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.”