Researchers at the University of Aberdeen will join forces with academics from across Europe and leading renewable industry players to improve the performance, reliability and cost of components essential to a greener future.
The University of Aberdeen High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) research centre is one of nine partners on a new three-year Horizon Europe funded project MoWiLife (Condition Monitoring and Wide Bandgap Power Electronics - Leading Innovations for the European Energy Sector).
Professor Dragan Jovcic and Dr Xin Yuan will bring their High Voltage DC (Direct Current) and Power Electronics expertise to the initiative which will study new transistor technologies based on SiC (Silicon Carbide) and their applications in power generation and transmission.
Traditional power systems are based on electro-mechanical components, but as the world moves away from carbon sources and towards electrification, the demand for power converters and other power-electronics components has been growing significantly, placing increasing expectations on their performance, reliability and cost.
All power converters traditionally used in the power industry employ transistors and other semiconductor devices based on Si (Silicon) technology, but recent research has indicated potential significant benefits of SiC MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) which has been under development at Infineon - one of project partners - and some other semiconductor manufacturers.
To better understand benefits of SiC MOSFETs, new studies are required including hardware evaluations in expected applications, which will be realised in four MoWiLIfe demonstrators*.
The Aberdeen HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) research team will be responsible for developing and validating a functional SiC MOSFET hybrid high voltage DC circuit breaker, which builds on previous research projects at Aberdeen related to DC Circuit Breakers and DC Transmission Grid development.
They will work alongside leading industry players including semiconductor manufacturers, wind generator manufacturers, and research centres to conduct in-depth research using analytical and experimental methods to evaluate the benefits of SiC devices and develop technology further.
Professor Jovcic said: “Modernisation of electrical grid infrastructure and new generation methods will be crucial in our transition to clean energy. Electrification lies at the heart of decarbonisation and we will need expanded electrical networks to meet growing electricity demand from industry, transport and buildings.
“Power Converters and Electronics is the underpinning technology for this transition, and this brings significant challenges including development of new power electronics that meets user demands for high performance, reliability and sustainability, with affordable costs.
“DC (direct current) electrical systems have not been much utilised since AC (alternating current) systems have been preferred with traditional overland power transmission and conventional electricity generation. However, AC power can only be transmitted over relatively short distances with subsea cables, and as we look increasingly to offshore wind or tidal technology to meet growing demand, solutions are needed to create high-voltage direct current (HVDC) connections and to eventually develop an HVDC grid.
“Our research at the University of Aberdeen has played an important role in the advancement of DC Grids and key components like DC Circuit Breakers, and we are delighted to be part of the European MoWiLIfe project which is expected to demonstrate substantially further improved DC Circuit Breakers. We will use desktop research and also develop 5 kV DC CB demonstrator based on SiC MOSFETs in our HVDC laboratory for experimental testing.”
This project is funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe, Grant Agreement No 101172657.