Update on Elia-Group & Energinet Research Challenge - Research together, grow together

With the Elia-Group Research Challenge, we have launched an innovative initiative that brings research institutes and system operations together to develop practical solutions – ready for implementation within just one year.

The Elia Group Research Challenge – a joint initiative by Elia Group’s Innovation Department and 50Hertz’s System Management – is taking a new, innovative approach. Through close collaboration with research institutes, clearly defined questions, dedicated budgets, granting our partners access to our data, and a well-structured timeline, we aim to bridge the gap between research and real-world application. Our goal: to work with leading research institutes in an agile, dynamic, and practice-oriented way – and to deliver usable results within just one year that can be directly integrated into system operations. More information on the approach can be found in this former article: 20250101_Elia Group and Energinet Research Challenge

The challenge was initiated through our involvement in the The Global Power System Transformation Consortium (G-PST), reinforcing our commitment to global collaboration. At the end of 2024, we launched the first “pitch” of the Research Challenge, presenting a set of real-world questions from system operations. Research institutes from around the globe were invited to apply – and the response was overwhelming: 50 institutes from 12 countries submitted proposals!

In Q1 2025, we selected five institutes to work on four specific challenges, starting in May. One of the questions is being tackled in collaboration with Energinet.

• Optimizing grid monitoring using power system simulators -> Fraunhofer IEE, Benjamin Requardt
• Exploring new methods for network control via impedance frequency scans -> Fraunhofer IEE, Farhad Safargholi & ETH Zurich, Florian Dörfler
• Speeding up load flow calculations -> Forschungszentrum Jülich, Dirk Witthaut
• Enhancing simulation speed in Modelica -> Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Luigi Vanfretti

You’ll find detailed descriptions of the questions and the participating institutes in the image above.  

Stay tuned: The first interim results will be available as early as end of September! We’ll keep you updated here and share regular progress reports.