Bridging Research & Industry: Smart Grids, ML,&P2P Markets with Bharath Varsh Rao - TEB Podcast S1E5
with Bharath Varsh Rao· AIT Austrian Institute of Technology· 55m
Recorded inside AIT's inverter test lab, this episode traces why distribution grids are flying blind: Austrian DSOs are barred on data-protection grounds from using smart-meter data for real-time control or planning, so Rao's team infers the whole grid state from a strategically placed subset of meters. He is blunt about the trade being made — a fossil-heavy system needs little flexibility, and Europe is deliberately sacrificing controllability for renewable share. The sharpest number is the queue: nine years to connect a new plant, with roughly 15 TW of renewable capacity waiting in it.
Key metrics
by the numbers · 5- 9 yearstime to connect a new power plant to a medium- or high-voltage feeder
- 15 TWrenewable generation capacity Rao says is sitting in the connection queue
- −500 €/MWhday-ahead price reached days before recording, driven by surplus renewable output
- 4 yearslength of a European research project — long enough that its output can be obsolete on delivery
- 30research laboratories in the European association formed so members do not duplicate each other's competencies
Topics
8 tags- Duration
- 55m
- Words
- 10.1k
- Questions
- 34
Timeline
12 chaptersInside the SmartEST lab
The accreditation laboratory where inverters, storage systems and EV chargers are tested on load and in a climate chamber before entering the Austrian market.
What changed in ten years
Rao's answer is digitalisation: a domain where little moved for a century changed completely once renewables forced intelligent control.
Negative prices, explained by merit order
Why a thermal plant that cannot cheaply shut down will pay to stay connected, and how that produces prices far below zero.
The observability wall
Austrian DSOs may not use smart-meter data for real-time operation or network planning, because consumption data reveals personal behaviour.
Predicting storm damage in Turkey
On the Karaburun peninsula, overhead poles fall in Mediterranean storms; the goal is a 24-hour warning so crews are moving before the outage.
What an energy community legally is
The 2018 clean energy package defined two kinds — a local renewable energy community and a location-independent citizen energy community — each a legal entity anyone can start.
Why Austria's communities boomed
High post-war energy prices drove panic buying of PV, and the first instinct was to share surplus output with family rather than trade it.
The trade nobody states plainly
Synchronous fossil generation stabilises a grid better than renewables do, so a fossil-heavy system needs little flexibility — and Europe is choosing to give that up.
A peer-to-peer market in a Styrian village
Neighbours sold power to each other through smart contracts and earned cryptocurrency; the finding that mattered was that microtransactions must be automated.
Nine years to connect
The queue a new plant must join before construction begins, with roughly 15 TW of renewable capacity waiting in it.
Advice without a power-systems degree
Rao's view that the transition needs citizens, not only engineers, and that useful work here does not require formal electrical training.
The DC cube
A walk into AIT's direct-current laboratory — a rectifier bank for destructive testing of DC protection devices at very high current.
Key insights
5 takeaways- 01
Data-protection law, not sensor cost, is what blinds distribution grids
Smart meters are installed, but Austrian DSOs are not permitted to use that data for real-time control or network planning, because a consumption profile reveals when someone showers or watches television. Rao treats the protection as correct and works around it: AI methods predict the state of the whole grid from a subset of devices placed strategically, with only willing customers contributing data.
- 02
Negative prices are the merit order working, not malfunctioning
Solar and wind clear first because they are cheapest, pushing expensive thermal plant past the market clearing point. A plant that is more expensive to stop and restart than to keep running will bid a negative price — paying to stay connected — which is how a day-ahead market reaches roughly minus 500 euros per megawatt hour.
- 03
Flexibility is the price of decarbonisation, not a bonus feature
Rao states the uncomfortable version directly: synchronous fossil generators stabilise a grid far better than weather-driven renewables, so a fossil-heavy system has little need for flexibility. Europe is knowingly sacrificing controllability to raise renewable share, which is precisely why flexibility has to be built back in.
- 04
The blockchain market's real lesson was automation, not the ledger
A peer-to-peer trading pilot in a Styrian village let neighbours sell output via smart contracts for cryptocurrency. The conclusion Rao draws is about transaction scale rather than technology: these are microtransactions that cannot be managed preemptively the way country-level markets are, so the whole thing must run automatically. He adds that blockchain has since lost its edge in energy.
- 05
A nine-year connection queue makes the research timetable the problem too
A wind project must join a nine-year queue before construction starts, with around 15 TW of renewable capacity waiting — and Rao's current work is compressing the simulation effort behind it. He applies the same impatience to research itself: four-year European projects can deliver results already obsolete, which is why he pushes for agile delivery and a minimum viable product in year one.
Pull quotes
6 quotesObservability is the biggest hurdle
So if you have a lot of fossil based generation you don't need a lot of flexibility.
The main outcome of the study is you need to automate it.
This connection takes 9 years.
The energy transition is not a problem of engineers. It's the problem of citizens.
We need to work together to to involve multiple partners along the spectrum to push the solution from theory to reality.
- From
- purely power system perspective, uh they
- stabilize the grid way more than
- renewable energy because renewable
- energy is is more independent in nature
- >> and it's not it's not easily
- controllable.
- >> Mhm.
- >> So if you have a lot of uh fossil based
- generation,
- >> you don't need a lot of flexibility.
- >> Okay.
- >> Yeah. You have it.
- >> That's the reality. Yeah. I'm giving I'm
- giving you guys straight. Yeah. That's
- that's how it is.
- [Music]
- Okay. Yeah, there we are.
- Wow, perfect.
- So,
- welcome to a new episode of Energy
- Bridge. We are here with Vat inside the
- AIT Austrian Institution of Technology.
- Yeah.
- >> Uh,
- >> in the smartest lab.
- >> In the smartest lab. So, I don't know
- you, but I feel like a kid in a I don't
- know in a playroom like making so much
- test. We are going to try to shoot
- something here and there. Uh, so yeah,
- welcome Barat. Thank you for
- >> giving us this um time and we're very
- excited to know about your work.
- >> Yeah, thanks for having me guys. Yeah,
- you're welcome to AIT.
- >> Amazing.
- >> And the smartest lab. Hey uh but before
- we get into your career career journey,
- could you explain this place a bit?
- >> Sure. Yeah. So AIT uh has quite a lot of
- laboratories. Uh and this is one of the
- uh the biggest ones. So this is called
- the the smartest lab. Uh so smartest lab
- was uh mainly designed as an
- accreditation laboratory for providing
- test reports for uh at the beginning for
- inverters but now we've branched out to
- uh not only inverters but uh electric
- storage systems for electric vehicle
- charging stations and so on and so
- forth. We also had a micro grid set up
- here a few months ago to uh to test the
- the viability of a micro grid. So this
- is a commercial laboratory which means
- that our clients come to this lab
- >> Mhm. and then they bring their devices
- and uh this is an entry point for them
- to sell their uh products in Austria. So
- they need to get certified
- >> and AIT is one of the uh very few
- certifying uh or AIT provides test
- reports and then they can later go and
- get it certified uh to be able to sell
- their products in Austria.
- >> And you told us about that place that uh
- this is the clim
- >> the KMA chamber. Yeah,
- >> KMA chamber. Yeah. So the test
- specifications requires the device to
- operate in in certain environmental
- conditions and then we can test that in
- the in the clean chamber. So we can have
- a varying degrees of temperature,
- humidity, uh so on so for other tests
- other parameters and we can connect the
- the device on load. So that's important.
- So the device are actually functioning.
- So it's on load and uh we can vary this
- temperature profiles to get uh uh
- different parameter characteristics and
- we can see that and make sure that the
- uh the devices adhere to the uh to the
- standard.
- >> Amazing.
- >> Amazing.
- >> So that's the main focus.
- >> Get into uh uh your journey. So uh tell
- us about yourself a bit where you from
- uh what did you study and how did you
- end up in a in a KMA chamber?
- Yeah. Um I am u a researcher right now.
- So I'm a scientist as well as business
- developer at uh uh a department or group
- or we call a competence unit. Uh it's
- called power and renewable gas systems.
- And I moved to IIT uh approximately 10
- years ago. I came here to do my master
- thesis.
- >> Yeah.
- >> And uh before that I was doing my I was
- studying my masters at Goblin in in
- France in Grenobyl in in the middle of
- Alps. And before that uh I I'm come from
- India from from Bangalore. So I studied
- my bachelor's in electrical engineering
- from Vua Technological University in
- Bangalore and uh yeah it's been a hell
- of a journey. Yeah. And right now 10
- years in Austria before that uh in
- France and then I'm originally from from
- India.
- >> Okay. And how old are you?
- >> Yeah I'm 33 years old.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Yeah. And uh I got my PhD four years
- ago.
- >> Mhm. And uh yeah, it's uh it's it's very
- interesting to to work at AIT and
- looking at all this amazing
- infrastructure.
- >> Um and um yeah, meeting a lot of
- interesting researchers across Europe
- and um yeah, I coordinate European level
- projects. I get to travel a lot, meet
- incredible researchers across the uh the
- European continent.
- >> Mhm. and a bit more about your subject
- of study at the PhD and um so you
- started at a uh doing your PhD you did
- your master thesis in at AI then you
- continued doing your PhD
- >> absolutely yeah so my master thesis was
- on uh datadriven methods for uh customer
- profiling basically
- >> so we have quite a lot of data I mean
- this is 10 years ago approximately so so
- we had a large scale installation of
- smart meters back then in France There
- was a very big uh push for linky smart
- meters as you may you may know and in
- Austria as well the smart meters were
- coming up uh that were being installed
- in Austria and uh the regulator EC
- control of Austria wanted to know if
- it's possible to uh uh get the uh
- forecasting accuracy lower for uh uh for
- for mainly retailers
- >> to better manage their portfolio
- >> and then they can go to the market with
- a better forecast and better portfolio
- and that's the reason I was uh
- aggregating creating different profiles
- of different types to help retailers uh
- do better load forecasting. So that was
- the focus of my of my master thesis and
- then for my PhD I I moved into uh move
- back to my roots which is power system
- >> uh to do uh very detailed power system
- uh control uh implementation. So mainly
- control for low water distribution
- grids. So doing a lot of lowflow
- simulations, optimal power flow, uh I I
- I developed a method to uh uh manage
- flexibilities in distribution grids and
- then this evolved into uh local energy
- community control because as you may
- know in 2018 or was it 2019 European
- Commission adopted the clean energy
- transition as a clean energy partnership
- and uh uh the clean energy package of
- the European Commission uh first created
- local energy communities. the concept of
- local energy community and that really
- blew up in Austria and Austria was one
- of the very first countries to adopt
- this transformation.
- >> We have seen a lot of developing in this
- uh area. So you have been here 10 years
- so far and we are in a very exciting and
- fast growing industry.
- What what changes have you seen in this
- 10 years researching?
- >> Right.
- >> Yeah. I mean the the biggest change
- would be uh digitalization.
- >> Okay. So uh in the last 10 years
- digitalization has uh gone into every
- single domain because traditionally
- power system is a very conservative
- domain
- >> and and there's nothing really happened
- for the last I don't know 100 years and
- then in the last 10 20 years everything
- changed
- >> because you have the invention of the
- smart grids.
- >> Mhm. So uh smart grids started you know
- coming into forefront because we are
- installing or we have a desire to
- install a lot of uh renewable energy in
- in the solution grids again because of
- the climate uh goals that we have and
- this poses a lot of challenges.
- >> Could you tell a bit more about uh what
- exactly uh we mean by smart grid?
- >> Absolutely. Yeah. So the desire for us
- yeah for for Europeans as well as across
- the world is to minimize our carbon
- footprint.
- >> Mhm. So we want to electrify uh most of
- the traditionally uh carbon based uh
- loads for example you don't want to
- transition from heating
- >> using renewable
- using gas for example or or wood or coal
- you want to transition to electricity
- because electricity we can make it more
- green
- >> and we can make uh electricity move also
- move away from carbon based generation
- like you know coal power plants uh uh
- diesel power plants for example. So our
- goal is to make it more green. So we
- have more renewable energy that is
- solar. We want to have more wind for
- example. And uh this poses a lot of
- challenges
- >> and and that's the reason we want some
- intelligent uh way to manage these these
- challenges that that comes up with this
- renewable energy because you can't
- predict solar accurately. You can't
- predict wind very accurately because
- wind is blowing whenever the wind wants
- to blow and uh that's the reason there
- is smart grid. So it's a intelligent way
- of controlling different assets within
- the grid. So that uh there are concepts
- like uh uh self-healing for example if
- there's a fault then there are
- algorithms which automatically heal the
- grid uh to restore uh the the
- electricity to to the customers and
- minimize the uh the blackout time for
- example. All of these things are are
- smart grids.
- >> Amazing. So it's a smart grid is a
- concept of uh coordination between
- assets in a sector load generation and
- how to manage the the balance. How
- important is the storage in this uh
- concept?
- >> Absolutely. Uh um so we're producing a
- lot of energy and uh this is uh
- renewable energy that we're talking
- about. Uh so it's important that we
- utilize it as much as possible
- >> because if we have too much renewable
- energy so we saw this uh a few weeks ago
- or was it last week in in Spain and in
- the Iberian Peninsula. So we have a lot
- of renewable energy that's being
- produced. So we want to efficiently
- utilize it because it's a shame to to
- curtail it.
- >> Exactly.
- >> So we don't want to curtail solar power
- because there is quite a lot of solar in
- Europe right now. So during midday when
- the sun is at the highest in summer
- there's so much solar production that we
- won't be able to consume it. Yeah.
- >> And then right now we're curtailing it
- and and that's a shame. Yeah. Because
- you have such a large infrastructure of
- solar energy and we don't want to to
- waste it. And that's the reason uh
- batteries are important but batteries
- are beyond that. So it's not just
- storage. Batteries can also support the
- the grid. Batteries can help customers
- uh uh manage their renewable energy
- production, their load, the loads and
- their consumption in general. And it can
- also support the distribution grid or
- transmission grid to to provide some
- kind of services to to the grid. So
- there are more than that. Yeah.
- >> Yeah. Just one more thing it's um let us
- know if it's related or not because um
- we saw last days we are 13 of May
- reporting this and the day ahead market
- >> showed prices near to minus500
- per megawatt hour. Is it related with
- the production of renewables?
- >> 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Because uh uh the
- there's a concept called merit order uh
- at the at the uh uh any any market that
- you're looking at. So any for example
- Apex uh uh the head market. So the the
- the concept of uh merit order is is is
- persistent in all the markets. Of course
- there's a lot of discussion about this
- needs to be changed and so on and so
- forth.
- >> We're going to make an episode just
- exactly. Sure.
- >> Yeah. So the concept is very simple. You
- want to give priority to the generators
- which is the cheapest
- >> because you want to keep the generators
- uh that are cheapest to to to be able to
- produce more electricity so that it's
- cheaper for everybody. So which is the
- cheapest energy in in Europe right now?
- >> Solar.
- >> It's solar. Yeah. Solar and wind.
- >> That's the cheapest
- >> and uh uh you know the concept of uh
- load and generation. So there's an
- intersection at at a point. So it's uh
- uh there's also this this concept in
- merit order where there's an
- intersection everything beyond that
- point so it's called the market clearing
- point everything beyond that point is is
- not considered in the uh in the market
- action
- >> everything below it is considered so if
- you have a lot of solar uh production
- and and wind production across Europe so
- all of these are very cheap and then uh
- that's the reason for for example uh the
- thermal power plant uh which is very
- expensive to run and which cannot be
- turned off very easily It's at the end
- of the
- >> it's at the end of the merit order and
- they need to make it cheaper
- >> to be able to uh uh participate in in
- the market. So if they go beyond the
- market clearing price, they're out of
- the market and they will they'll have to
- shut down.
- >> So for them it's
- >> more expensive to shut down and come
- back again next week or next day
- >> than the heating system.
- >> Exactly. Yeah. It's more expensive and
- that's the reason they uh offer a ne
- negative price. So they're willing to
- pay you to be connected. Okay. So this
- is a parenthesis because we want to go
- into your research but thank you for
- that
- >> also about just adding to that and it it
- it addresses grid and the stability of
- the grid uh how more and more renewable
- has to be integrated within the grid and
- you're working with digitalization with
- the ML model for the grid and with the
- smart grid how important it gets more
- and more because uh we are in uh Vienna
- the grids are slightly modernized
- compared to Eastern Europe and they have
- very
- >> let's say quote unquote somebody said
- shitty grid
- >> why it's it's so important for them to
- to integrate smart grids then
- >> right absolutely I mean uh now the uh
- the the because there's so much diverse
- set of loads and generations that are
- connected to the distribution grid
- >> it is impossible for uh DSOs to to
- manage this because there there's the
- one main issue is observability. So
- distribution grids are not observed. So
- the smart meters that are connected
- >> uh especially in Austria due to GDPR uh
- laws and data protection laws, it cannot
- be used by a DSO to do some kind of
- real-time control. It's not allowed. So
- the distribution system operators are
- not allowed to to use this data for
- network planning as well as real-time
- operation.
- >> Mhm.
- >> Yeah. What what are the hurdles for
- them?
- >> Like why? It's data protection because
- uh uh you can know quite a lot about uh
- your personal behavior like for example
- if I have your profile your your you
- know apartment for example your
- consumption profile I can I can say a
- lot about what you do in the in the
- house I can I can say when you watch a
- TV I can say when uh you're taking a
- shower all of this is possible yeah
- >> is it like considered a personal data
- >> it's personal data yeah so uh your
- consumption data is personal data
- >> because it it gives a lot of information
- about your behavior and and it's
- rightfully protected It needs to be
- protected. It's rightfully protected.
- Yeah. And and that's the reason DS at
- least in the current regulation envir
- regulatory environment, they're not
- allowed to use this data in real time.
- And and that's the reason we have
- developed some AI methodologies to to be
- able to predict at a rather high
- accuracy
- >> with a subset of these measurement
- devices. So we don't have full
- observability. We can have few
- measurement devices strategically placed
- in in a in a distribution grid to be
- able to predict everything else like the
- distribution grid.
- >> Aggregated data with many consumers.
- >> Exactly.
- >> Not one one by one.
- >> No, but we can we can also do one by
- one. So we just need to have a certain
- number of smart meters uh uh connected
- from from the DSO or uh from the
- customers who are willing to provide
- this data to to the DSO. Uh so with the
- help of this we can predict everybody
- else in the in the vision grid. So this
- is one example where uh digitalization
- as well as you know AI applications
- helps in and good management because
- observability is the biggest hurdle
- >> and we're trying to solve this
- observability issue.
- >> Okay. And you worked uh on a project
- called grid cloud.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Uh what were what exactly was the
- project and how did it apply to uh the
- topic that we we have just touched on?
- >> Absolutely. Uh so grid cloud is um
- European initiative. So it's uh funded
- under Aronet uh funding instrument part
- of the EU. It's a transnational uh
- funding scheme and uh the main focus of
- the of the grid cloud project is uh
- digital twins to enable digital twins to
- support grid operation. So that's the
- main focus of the of the uh grid cloud
- project.
- >> Uh so we have uh different countries
- part of the grid project. We have
- actually three countries. So it's
- Austria, Germany as well as Turkey.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Uh so we have different use cases that
- we are uh addressing in these three
- countries. So I think uh the most
- interesting one uh right now especially
- with the with the climate change is the
- Turkish use case
- >> where uh
- >> because there there is this this area
- called Karabun. So it's a peninsula in
- in Turkey in Ismir region of Turkey on
- the Mediterranean like right across
- Greece
- >> and they're uh they're experiencing uh
- quite a large number of uh storms and
- weather events
- >> and that's the reason you have this this
- transmission uh poles right which is
- carrying cable because they're overhead
- lines in in Turkey and they're being
- affected. So a lot of them are just
- falling off
- >> because of the heat
- >> because of the uh the the storms
- >> extremely high wind conditions uh rain
- hail because of that the the cables are
- being affected and then the the poles
- just
- >> drop because it's so windy because it's
- it's the Mediterranean and it's it's
- extremely stormy weather and we want to
- be able to predict this uh that it's
- it's going to happen somewhere I don't
- know in the next 24 hours
- >> with weather data with electrical
- information that we have also historical
- data so that the uh the crew who's
- responsible for fixing this issue can
- already preemptively start driving or
- they're ready that this is going to
- happen and they can go and they can
- minimize the the blackout time so that
- our customers are not affected uh for
- for longer than than they should be. You
- know, that's the that's the focus
- >> and what we were talking just before we
- we started shooting about how exactly
- these these fundings and how how these
- projects work within AIT. if you could
- just tell us a bit more about uh the
- structure of project that are under AIT
- how are they funded and and who are the
- stakeholders
- >> right yeah so AIT uh gets one/ird of its
- uh funding from uh funded projects so
- which is uh uh for example national
- level funding FFG so the Austrian
- research promotion agency
- >> is one of the uh the funding agencies
- that funds uh projects again this is
- like a public call that we as AIT a
- research institution we partner up with
- uh with our large network of partners.
- So we create a consortia
- >> and we come up with a very nice
- proposal. We submit to this and then we
- win this proposal.
- >> Who who are the partners that AIT work
- with with industry and
- >> yeah we have partners from industry from
- from public organizations from uh uh
- from all all sorts of life. So because
- we are doing such a complex project
- right now so it's not really focused on
- one industry anymore. Mhm.
- >> So it's more sector coupling
- >> and and we are focusing on on social
- scientists for example, universities and
- institutions that focus on on social
- science. They're also part of the
- project. So it's it's quite broad at the
- moment. So it's a sector coupled uh
- solutions. So so this this is one
- funding agency that we uh uh apply for
- funding to of course the European Union.
- So we have the Horizon Europe funding
- instruments life um of course the the
- CTP clean energy transition partnership
- um and so on and so forth. quite a lot
- of uh funding agencies that uh that that
- provide research funding and we also
- create a consortia and submit a proposal
- uh to this uh consort to to this uh call
- and uh we win proposals. So this is
- one/ird of the funding bulk. Yeah. And
- then the other uh uh uh one/ird is
- coming from um private contracted
- research.
- >> Mhm. So we contract research or we we
- contract with with the industries and
- different companies technology companies
- to help develop a prototype for them.
- >> Mhm.
- >> Uh so they may not have the expertise uh
- and and and knowledge to to domain
- knowledge to develop this prototype.
- >> So we develop it for them and then we
- hand it hand it off to them and they
- bring it to the market.
- >> Okay.
- >> So this is the the the second uh uh
- funding instrument or or the way we uh
- derive funding. So it's the direct
- conduct of research and then the the
- remaining one/ird is uh uh funding from
- the the government of Austria.
- >> Okay.
- >> So this is fixed funding that we receive
- every year from uh from the ministry of
- innovation of Austria.
- >> Yeah.
- >> And uh uh this enables us to do a lot of
- uh supporting work for the first two. So
- all the background research that needs
- to be done that cannot be funded
- >> uh from the European Commission or from
- the uh the Austrian funding agency is
- done with this
- >> with this. Yeah. Yeah, this is something
- that we discussed before recording. It's
- uh you are bridging the industry with
- >> research and academia. So it's uh it's
- amazing. Um
- >> absolutely. So AIT is is uh uh we we
- work as a bridge between academia as
- well as industry. So it's uh really uh
- bringing all the low tier low technology
- readiness level research so that
- universities develop. It's it's very
- innovative ideas that they're
- developing. So we bridge it. So we build
- a prototype or we build a a concept that
- that goes beyond the uh the low tier
- research so that the industry can adopt
- it and bring it to the market.
- >> Amazing. And and maybe something that
- you have done in this research if we can
- go to the CE region h how do you see the
- uh have you done some research in CE?
- >> Yeah I mean so we have multiple
- projects. Yeah, absolutely. Um that we
- have worked with the partners from from
- the uh CE region for sure. Austria,
- Central European uh and also Eastern
- European regions. Yeah, absolutely. So
- we have partners from Romania, Czech
- Republic, Bulgaria. Absolutely.
- >> And what kind of projects and and what
- have you seen there in the in these
- countries?
- >> Yeah. Um so the European grid is is one
- grid. So it's a single grid across
- across Europe. And the challenges that
- we are facing, everybody's facing across
- Europe. Yeah. From from Northern Europe,
- from from Finland to uh Portugal. Yeah.
- So this is one European grid. Of course,
- there are specific national level
- challenges that uh that different
- countries across Europe have, especially
- in Eastern Europe. We could look at the
- energy mix for example. It's more carbon
- based
- >> compared to Austria. Austria is
- strategically located in the Alps. So we
- have a lot of hydro power
- >> and a lot of wind right now. So that's
- that's that's an advantage. Uh but I
- think there are countries in Eastern
- Europe still transitioning to renewable
- energy uh at the moment and the progress
- is incredible. I think
- >> they're very fast.
- >> Yeah, a lot of countries are really
- pushed towards uh um yeah large scale
- implementation of renewable energy
- projects.
- >> Mhm. And uh uh of course they will now
- start facing all the challenges of this
- new integration of renewable energy that
- we have already faced in in central
- Europe and Eastern Europe
- >> like 5 10 years ago.
- >> So all the solutions that can be that
- developed and tested actually quite well
- tested can be easily implemented in the
- uh Eastern European regions. Can I add
- just one thing short answer because Raul
- is
- no
- >> we also see this knowledge gap between
- Eastern Europe and Western. How do you
- see that it it could be better this
- knowledge transfer with those
- professionals?
- >> I I would say to to create more projects
- to create more consorts together with
- the uh uh with the research entities,
- universities, um industry partners from
- from Eastern Europe to uh share
- knowledge because I think working in a
- project together that's funded by the
- European Commission or anybody else that
- doesn't really matter uh is extremely
- advantageous because we learn from each
- other because we attend meetings
- together. we have uh brainstorming
- meeting to to really discuss all the
- issues that we have and then find a
- unifying solution. So uh I think that's
- really again I'm coming from the
- research point of view. Of course from
- the commercial point of view there are
- different ways to do this but from the
- research point of view it's really to to
- collaborate and then exchange
- researchers. So we from AIT go to a
- university in an Eastern European
- country or vice versa and that's how you
- you build this um
- >> collaboration collaboration. Absolutely.
- Hey uh you you worked a lot with energy
- communities as well designing energy
- communities and uh I believe in uh you
- were telling us that in 2018 you already
- started working on that.
- >> Tell us a bit more about what exactly
- energy community means and how you
- designed them and what's the benefit of
- it.
- >> Absolutely. uh so in 2018 end I think I
- don't remember exactly the date at the
- moment but uh European commission
- adopted officially the uh clean energy
- package
- >> which for the first time uh put it in
- law uh what an energy community is so
- there are two kinds of energy
- communities uh a renewable energy
- community
- >> and a citizen energy community
- >> okay
- >> so this is fully defined already so a
- renewable energy community is a
- community that is local
- >> okay So it's it depends on the country
- of course and how the regulations are
- transposed but it's it's local. So it's
- it's one uh street or or one small
- village and and uh uh if you look at the
- the power grid so it's usually a one one
- feeder or multiple feeders together.
- >> Okay.
- >> Are in one community.
- >> Mhm.
- >> So this is a legal entity by the way. So
- community is a legal entity
- >> and anyone can start it.
- >> Anyone can start it. Anyone can be part
- of it. So there is of course there are
- specific requirements but generally yes.
- Mhm.
- >> And in citizen energy community it's not
- uh in one location. It can be anywhere
- in in a country.
- >> Okay.
- >> So if you are living in in in Foralberg
- I'm living in Vienna. So we can create
- energy community together.
- >> Mhm.
- >> Call a citizen citizen energy community
- and we can share energy. So in forber if
- you're producing a lot of photoike power
- you can sell it to me in Vienna.
- >> So it's independent of the of the
- location. So it can be anywhere in in
- Austria in a particular country and of
- course across Europe. Uh this
- transposition has happened in different
- ways
- >> and it's still happening.
- >> Yeah.
- >> So currently I'm uh uh developing a
- study for the European Commission DJNR
- uh on exactly looking at the current uh
- LEC ecosystem across Europe.
- >> LC what is that? local energy community
- ecosystem
- >> across Europe to to really check what's
- the current status
- >> of uh of this transposition uh so of of
- the of the EU level regulation into
- national laws
- >> to see how well it's happen so for
- example in Austria it's fully done so
- it's been fully transposed of course
- there are some challenges that we're
- still trying to address in some
- countries it's not fully done so there's
- only certain parts of it is done and in
- in in uh some countries it's absolutely
- not done
- >> and Austria had a lot of energy
- community coming up.
- >> Why is that? And uh what are the
- enabling regulation for it?
- >> So it's mainly uh uh there was this um
- incentive to to create local energy
- communities because of the the prices.
- >> Mhm.
- >> So uh couple of years ago due to war you
- might already know that the energy
- prices were rather high during this time
- and uh there was a lot of investment in
- photoalt generation across Europe uh
- mainly Austria. So there's a there's a
- bit of a panic buying of PV plants and
- uh that's the reason if you have a photo
- volic panel and uh you would want to
- also provide this energy to your family
- members. So that's really the main
- initiative the main incentive. So you
- want to uh uh provide your for example
- parents living in the countryside they
- have a lot of space they have uh you
- know rooftops that they uh install PVs
- with and then there's a lot of excess
- energy that they don't use. So they'll
- do their children and and piano. So
- that's really the the main focus. I
- would say a large number of energy
- communities are are owned by few people
- in in Austria, a handful of people.
- >> Okay.
- >> Uh and uh of course there are bigger
- ones right now, but the incentive is
- that that they want to share energy comm
- energy across the the community. But do
- you think that energy community will
- play a role
- uh in in demand respond
- >> side in energy transition
- >> right yeah that's a it's a difficult
- question at the moment to answer because
- uh the regulations are very stringent so
- right now there are very few countries
- across Europe where uh local energy
- communities can provide flexibility to I
- don't know what to the grid or to um to
- to an aggregator and finally the
- aggregator goes to a market. This is not
- fully defined at the moment.
- >> Okay.
- >> Yeah. But there is an interest at least
- from uh the European Commission to to
- see how this could be done.
- >> Mhm.
- >> And that's the reason the the study that
- I'm I'm doing with the uh with DJR is
- also looking at flexibilities.
- >> Okay. And how uh what could be the
- enabling barriers or enabling conditions
- and barriers for flexibility inclusion
- flexibility extraction from energy
- communities.
- >> And do you think there could be uh it
- should be done more in the fossil uh
- dependent countries in the eastern
- European region such as Poland maybe
- >> right
- >> should be done more there.
- >> Yeah. So from a power system uh
- perspective uh fossil based generation
- especially synchronous uh uh generators
- are from again from purely power system
- perspective uh they stabilize the grid
- way more
- >> than renewable energy because renewable
- energy is is more independent in nature
- >> and it's not it's not easily
- controllable.
- >> Mhm.
- >> So if you have a lot of uh fossil based
- generation
- >> you don't need a lot of flexibility.
- >> Okay.
- >> Yeah.
- >> You have it.
- >> That's the reality. Yeah. I'm giving I'm
- giving you guys straight. Yeah, that's
- that's how it is from the power system
- perspective.
- >> Uh but that's not what we want. So we
- don't we we are
- >> okay. I mean we're willing to sacrifice
- a bit of control to to increase the
- share of renewable energy.
- >> Uhhuh.
- >> And renewable energy goes hand in hand
- with flexibility.
- >> Yeah. And well this is the the friend
- that you don't want in the room but it's
- needed. Do you think that gas will play
- a role in the next 10 15 years or
- >> I mean glass will gas will of course
- play play continue to play a role
- because uh the transition from from
- again gas based heating mainly to
- electric based heating is is happening
- right now but it's it takes time to to
- to replace all the new houses that are
- being built in in in Vienna are have to
- be uh electric heating or they're at
- least trying to do that across Austria
- as well.
- >> Mhm. And all the new constructions,
- they're of course going to be electric
- based. Uh but there's still a lot of um
- houses that have gas heating.
- >> And then it takes a lot of time to to uh
- transition this to to electric. And it
- it's a long process.
- >> But not in heating. I mean not only
- heating but in electrical generation,
- electric generation. Gas will play a
- role in in this flexibility. I mean this
- is uh anyways not a lot especially in
- summer because like you mentioned
- >> negative pricing. So uh uh there is not
- a lot of uh gas generation anyways uh in
- in in summer. In winter sure there are
- still gas palants that are uh active in
- Europe but not a lot.
- >> Okay.
- >> So I don't think gas is going to again
- from the electricity point of view not a
- lot
- >> but heating massive massive
- >> massive
- >> amazing and because we we saw uh all the
- work that you have done uh so far you
- you also designed some P2P market. Yeah.
- >> Yeah. This this was part of a project
- called blockchain grid project.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Uh this was I think finished was it four
- or five years ago. Uh and this was again
- during the the whole blockchain hype.
- >> Uh we wanted to see if uh if it's
- possible to uh create a peer-to-peer
- energy market uh within a community in
- in uh in in Styrark.
- >> Mhm. So this is actually a real uh
- village uh where we deploy this uh
- market and uh uh there all the customers
- uh who produce electricity can sell uh
- this to their neighbors with the help of
- the of the blockchain. So we have smart
- contracts. It automatically uh computes
- how much you're producing,
- >> how much you're feeding into the grid
- and you can virtually sell this power
- and you can earn u cryptocurrency
- >> and and what was the out the outcome of
- the study? Is it possible or
- >> so the the main outcome of the study is
- you need to automate it.
- >> Okay,
- >> automation is the most important thing
- because these are microtransactions and
- unlike u the European level or or
- country level markets, you can't
- preemptively
- uh uh manage this. Mhm.
- >> So it needs to be done automatically.
- >> Yeah, that's the main outcome. And of
- course, blockchain is is losing its edge
- at the moment, at least in energy.
- There's not a lot of funding and uh not
- a lot of interest in energy uh in
- blockchain. So
- >> yeah, it's it's dying down, I would say.
- We're at the end of the year of the
- whole blockchain, but there's still a
- lot of uh proponents of blockchain who
- who really believe in it. Um uh but
- we'll see how it goes. Yeah, that's
- that's what I could say at the moment,
- too.
- >> For now, we'll leave it to the crypto
- guys. Yeah, exactly.
- >> Hey, it we we were discussing about the
- role of academy and industry
- collaboration and AIT is doing it
- wonderfully and we saw that you are a
- research scientist also a business
- developer. You're contracting with uh
- bigger industry companies.
- >> How tell us a bit more about how you
- collaborate with different stakeholders
- and what you have to do in in to get all
- the research going here.
- >> Right. Yeah. uh for for the first part
- uh for uh contractor research.
- Um so it really depends on on the the
- client's requirements.
- >> Mhm.
- >> Yeah. So uh we have uh a large uh
- collection of solutions that that we
- have developed uh within AIT. Uh so it
- really depends on the on the
- requirements of the of the client. So we
- have uh control engineering expertise.
- So we have a lot of um algorithms, a lot
- of prototypes uh that are controllers
- for for distribution groups. Again, I'm
- of course AIT is quite wide, but I'm I'm
- really narrowing it down to
- digitalization and power system
- applications here.
- >> Sure.
- >> Uh so we have things related to AI
- applications. We have a lot of advanced
- forecasting methods, statistation
- methods, uh predictive maintenance
- methods that uh that we can uh provide
- to uh uh solution operators
- uh the the companies which develop
- scatter systems for example uh uh the
- companies which provide solutions for
- local energy communities for example. So
- all of these are our clients. So we uh
- uh develop this based on their needs and
- then we provide this prototype to them
- and they need to put a lot of effort of
- course to bring this to to the market
- and make it more viable in the market
- based on their own requirements.
- >> Okay.
- >> So this is the first stream. Yeah. This
- is really uh a a client relationship AIT
- client relationship and then we develop
- this exclusively for them.
- >> Of course the funded research is more
- broad. We have a lot of consorcia
- members and we have consorcia members
- who are from industry, from academia,
- from research
- >> with different set of exploitation
- criterias that that they need. So
- universities mainly focus on
- publications. They don't really care
- about software solutions for example.
- Industrial partners, they care about
- software solutions but uh we need to
- test them in the relevant environment to
- make sure that they actually work
- >> and then they uh they can take it away.
- So there's another exploitation plan. So
- it's it's very customizable. It's very
- diverse. So that's the the key here.
- >> Yeah. And of course AIT is also doing
- spin-offs.
- >> Those are who are helping spin-offs and
- we have different uh models how to
- transfer uh the the IP the intellectual
- property that AIT owns to the startups.
- >> That's great. And we were discussing uh
- Daniel about uh also how successful
- spin-off gets to the market and also
- about time for them to get into the
- market. Tell us about some successful
- case studies that
- >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh infrared is one of
- the uh uh highly successful
- uh spin-offs from from AIT. So this
- startup is coming out of uh the group of
- digital resilient cities. DRC is uh is
- also part of Center for Energy and uh uh
- they're developing uh AI tools,
- visualization tools, showcases for city
- planners.
- So if you want to plan a city
- >> Mhm.
- >> if you want to make it more green, you
- can in in in in no time actually with
- virtual reality, you need to wear some
- virtual reality glasses and you're able
- to to to build the city with different
- stakeholders. So you can uh contact uh
- different community owners, you can
- contact uh people who are interested in
- in making the city more green. You can
- bring just general public into this
- design process
- >> and really see how what they need
- actually
- >> and based on this you can design this
- this city or a portion of the city or do
- renovations for the city
- >> and then uh yeah so you can develop
- detailed plans out of it so that the
- builders know exactly what to what to
- build.
- >> Okay. Amazing. And what are your next
- research? How do you see the next 5
- years?
- >> Uh definitely uh AI applications for
- sure. Yeah. Uh so the current research
- interest for me is to to minimize the uh
- uh the amount of time it takes to to uh
- connect a new power plant.
- >> Mhm.
- >> To the uh transmission or distribution
- grid.
- >> Okay.
- >> Yeah. So if you are uh for example Rahul
- you you are interested to build a wind
- power plant
- >> Mhm.
- >> in in Lower Austria. So you are able to
- uh convince some uh u venture capitalist
- to to to to give you some funding to
- build this wind power plant.
- >> Mhm.
- >> But the problem is you should be able to
- connect this wind power plant to the
- closest medium voltage or high voltage
- feeder.
- >> This connection takes 9 years.
- >> Wow.
- >> There's a queue. Yeah.
- >> Or Okay.
- >> So there's a queue. So you need to get
- on this queue even before you start
- building anything.
- >> Okay.
- >> So it takes about 9 years to to actually
- >> to be able to connect this plant. So in
- the meanwhile if you're already finished
- with the plant so all the wind wind
- turbines are already up and it's
- spinning already but you can't
- connecting energy
- >> you can't connect it.
- >> So what do you think that it can be
- solved? It's a regulatory challenge or
- >> it's a it's both. So of course there's
- very stringent regulation on exactly how
- to to uh connect this but there's also a
- lot of uh power system simulations that
- we need to do
- >> to be able to to uh provide this test
- report
- >> okay
- >> and make sure that the the win turbines
- or whatever generation that is connected
- is actually capable of uh of following
- some parameters that they need to follow
- and we're trying to address this with AI
- to make it more fast so that we want to
- reduce this this 9 years waiting time by
- a factor of I I don't know how many
- still still the research but
- >> whatever it takes. I mean there's
- approximately 15 trillion 15 terowatt of
- uh of renewable energy that is sitting
- in the queue right now.
- >> Mhm.
- >> Wow.
- >> 15 terowatt.
- >> We're going to stay aware what is
- happening with this study will be
- interesting
- >> and uh but just about so also with with
- research what happens that uh if it's
- taking too long it becomes redundant in
- the market. Absolutely.
- >> How do you make sure that the the
- research is up to date with the market
- and what's needed in the market?
- >> Absolutely. Uh some of the research that
- we do is uh is it's quite ambitious. So
- they're already 10 years beyond
- state-of-the-art.
- >> So then we have enough time to catch up
- >> at least the the solutions we can catch
- up and bring it to the market. But there
- are some solutions which are
- >> maybe one year beyond the market or two
- years beyond the market. And then these
- research projects are very very long. So
- European projects are four years and
- yeah completely get that the the uh the
- products or the research that we do at
- the beginning of the four year but at
- the end of the project it's already
- obsolete and that's the reason I think
- we should really focus on on creating
- more agile project management style. So
- I think agility is super important in
- research and then this is not currently
- being done. So uh this is one something
- that I'm pushing as well
- >> within our group to to make it more
- agile. So we want to have a minimum
- viable product.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Maybe the first year and already try to
- look at exploitation with the indust
- partners part of the project.
- >> So that's one way.
- >> Do they function at a startup or already
- or that they need to get into the market
- they need to be adapt to the market or
- uh they are more orthodox in the
- research way first they they get the
- research on board and then but how how
- do they function now?
- >> Yeah there are different methods here.
- So uh we can either so the the IP that
- is generated within the project can be
- adopted by the industrial partner
- already part of the project.
- >> Mhm.
- >> Or we can go for a startup. So both is
- possible. So we can either just license
- the solution that is developed within
- the project
- >> to a partner an industry partner and
- they use this license to
- >> develop it further and bring it to the
- market or we go for the startup uh
- route.
- >> Yeah. And it's also possible to put the
- startup plan already part of the
- proposal
- >> for the research project. So Europe
- funds this. So EU funds
- >> uh all the prerequisites to fulfill all
- the prerequisites for the for the
- startup as part of the project.
- >> Okay. And
- >> this is not being done at the moment. So
- there's such a huge gap right now and
- nobody is really utilizing this this
- opportunity. I think that's where AIT is
- really the bridge and and then uh they
- they go out of the system of AIT or they
- are still within the
- >> uh they will go out of the system of AIT
- because AIT will help uh with all the
- knowledge transfer IP of course and all
- the initial uh uh steps that are needed
- to to to establish this this entity this
- this independent entity or a startup
- >> and then this will be out of the AI
- ecosystem.
- Okay.
- >> Right. So the invitation is for the
- industry to come here and collaborate.
- Right.
- >> Absolutely.
- >> And then they can raise money when once
- they are out of the system they can get
- in the VC money because before that it's
- a funded money from the
- >> Exactly. Y so uh once the independent
- entity is created so they can it's it's
- out of ecosystem.
- >> So they can yeah raise money and then
- they can develop the product they can do
- whatever they want after that. And do
- industries sorry just one more question
- about it. Do industries already because
- uh of your partnership they take it to
- scale.
- >> Yes. So this is also possible. Uh we
- recently had a conversation about
- corporate venturing
- >> or comp corporate clienting as well. So
- uh if there is a particular industry
- which is very niche and they're looking
- for a very niche product then we develop
- it together within a research uh project
- like we always do. uh funded partially
- by uh uh public funding uh from from uh
- research calls basically and then uh the
- startup is created.
- >> Mhm.
- >> And typically big companies they do not
- want to assume the risk of the uh of
- this very innovative new solution.
- >> Y
- >> and that's the reason they do uh
- corporate clienting.
- >> Mhm.
- >> So you have a startup that is a direct
- client or the the the single client of
- the startup is this big industrial
- partner.
- >> Okay.
- They fund that and then they're able to
- scale it up uh rather quickly.
- >> Okay. Amazing. Uh well maybe to be
- closing from here AIT labs uh you can
- see the hear the noise of the like
- feeling here in the lab. So maybe um
- what would you recommend to future
- professionals in energy field
- researchers
- uh to get into this energy transition
- flow?
- >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean absolutely. I
- think the most important uh uh uh item
- that you need to do is uh yeah just just
- get up and then um go around talk to
- people and then you can do a lot without
- formal education in in in power system.
- So formal education electrical
- engineering or energy system. So you can
- do quite a lot because the energy
- transition is not a problem of
- engineers.
- It's the problem of citizens.
- >> Wow.
- >> So, it's anybody who is a citizen of
- Europe or across the world
- >> is is involved in energy transition. So,
- it's everybody that that needs to stand
- up and then and push for renewable
- energy, push for push for uh uh uh more
- green solutions across all the sectors,
- not just energy, all the transportation
- sector, which also needs to be uh
- transitioned to to renewable energy.
- Basically, all the sectors. Yeah. So I
- think that's the most important thing.
- >> That's a great statement.
- >> Yeah, for sure. And also since you are
- doing it successfully, what what would
- you tell others uh why is so needed to
- bridge academia industry and research
- together? Why why uh I mean how can also
- it be successfully replicated by others?
- >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean uh it's super
- important to to bridge the all the let's
- put it this way all the stakeholders in
- the the technology readiness level.
- >> Mhm.
- >> So where universities are at the lower
- end of the of the spectrum and
- industries are at the higher end of the
- spectrum. Mhm.
- >> It's very important to to to bridge all
- this this entire entire spectrum because
- all innovation like all the amazing
- ideas concepts are developed at the
- university and the only way to to bring
- this to the market
- >> Mhm.
- >> is that we have a bridge between all the
- different stakeholders along the the
- technology relevance level because
- industry wants something that the
- universities have
- >> or that they're coming up with.
- >> But it's an extremely high feat. to to
- bring whatever innovation that that this
- brilliant minds they they they come up
- with to the market.
- >> Theory to reality
- >> theory to reality. So this is extremely
- challenging.
- >> Mhm.
- >> And that's the reason we need to work
- together to to involve multiple partners
- along the spectrum to push the solution
- from theory to reality.
- >> That's what we are trying to do to
- bridge the all stakeholders. So yeah,
- thank you very much for receiving us
- here in your lab and I think we're going
- to come again.
- >> Absolutely. Hey, you're welcome.
- >> Because we went to the other lab with DC
- solutions and trying and pushing till
- the limit the
- >> Yeah, why not? We just
- >> go there now and ask her a couple more
- questions on the way. Yeah, let's do it.
- >> Let's see. Okay. Oh,
- okay. So, we came here to the other lab
- and now
- all this equipment is to uh test DC.
- >> Absolutely. Yeah. Right. So,
- >> can you tell us a bit more about this
- lab and what happens?
- >> Uh yeah, sure. Um so, this is our the
- brand new direct current laboratory. So,
- this is the the DC cube. So, that's what
- we we call it. Mhm.
- >> So it's a it's a bank of rectifiers
- basically. So diode diode bank
- >> with rectification element to it and we
- can test uh the uh protection devices.
- So that's the the focus of the light. So
- DC protection devices
- >> mhm
- >> uh in the laboratory with very high uh
- current values.
- >> So that is what we want to do. So we
- want to pass very high through the
- production device and make sure that it
- the standard
- >> that the devices are supposed to be.
- >> Actually we last week we went to inter
- solar and we realized that there are
- starting to be more DC solutions to
- avoid the inverter and just going from
- the PV DC bar and then superchargers or
- DC loads
- >> like a vehicles for example. Yeah. So
- how do you see the
- >> the like uh current DC use
- >> in electric current?
- >> That is the the the next uh step
- actually. So you're absolutely right. So
- we're trying to transition from from uh
- converting um from DC. So a lot of DC
- renewable energy is DC mainly to AC and
- then back to DC. So we can do basically
- everything in DC right now because a lot
- of uh electric vehicles are actually all
- the electric vehicles are DC. So you
- need to like lose some some uh uh power
- there and it loses AC. Exactly. And
- that's the reason DC powers DC devices
- are getting a lot of potential right
- now.
- >> And uh uh it's going to be increasing
- for sure in the next coming years. DC is
- going to be one of the main topics.
- >> Okay.
- >> And especially when there's renewable
- energy, you want to stay in DC to to
- avoid losses.
- >> And we heard some noise. What kind of is
- going on? So right now uh the colleagues
- are uh clearing up I think for
- performing the tests. So this is a
- commercial laboratory. So we have
- clients bringing their devices here
- >> to this lab to be able to
- >> to be destroyed actually.
- >> To be destroyed. Yeah. To be destroyed.
- >> Yeah. So that they adhere to the to the
- standards that the devices are supposed
- to be.
- >> And then you certify them.
- >> No. A doesn't certify. They provide a we
- provide a test report.
- >> Yeah. so that they can take this to the
- certification agency and then of course
- the agency looks through this report
- >> and then then they certify the uh the
- device
- >> and you said uh most of the clients uh
- that are coming are from Korea and China
- >> all over the world all over the world.
- So absolutely
- >> and and AIT is one of its kind. Who does
- this report?
- >> U for Austrian ecosystem. So you we're
- in the smartest laboratory. That's
- >> I think one of the only ones in Austria
- which provides this test reports for
- inverters
- >> mainly and this is one of the very few
- if not the only one in Europe which does
- high voltage uh or high current uh DC
- testing.
- >> Okay. and and there were a deer lab that
- you mentioned there about how many of
- them are
- >> uh I don't know the current number so
- probably 30 labs across Europe the labs
- initiative
- >> yeah just to make a context that this is
- a association to coordinate all the labs
- across Europe right so to know overlap
- work and uh yeah if you can tell us a
- bit more about it
- >> yeah so dabs is a European uh initiative
- uh to it's an association of all the
- research laborator countries
- >> mainly on renewable energy across
- Europe.
- >> Uh so we have members from basically all
- the countries and the goal was to
- establish uh cooperation between
- research institutions so that we don't
- uh uh develop uh similar competencies.
- So we don't want to overlap our comp
- competencies
- >> so that we uh don't uh basically waste
- funding to to because it's it's a lot of
- uh funding that that's being used to
- develop this this and it takes years to
- develop and we don't want to
- >> you know waste it by by developing
- competences and compete against each
- other.
- >> So we want to complement each other. So
- I think that's the reason. So if you
- have a client with a particular product
- so they can go to the uh uh their lab
- consortia and then they can ask which
- laboratory can can do this testing
- >> and then that their lab will send it to
- us or to any other research laboratory
- across Europe.
- >> Okay. Maybe we could reach them.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Totally. I can put you in touch with
- them.
- >> I mean Daniel is electrical engineer so
- he understands everything already but
- what's there if you could explain a bit.
- >> Yeah. So this is the uh the DC.
- >> Show me.
- >> Yeah you can we can go inside. Yeah.
- >> Okay. Wow. Let's go. We're improvising
- here. And
- Okay. Amazing.
- Wow. Okay. So, so here uh
- >> put it here.
- >> Okay. We still have battery. So, we can
- do something.
- >> Yeah. So the main goal of uh the DC cube
- is to convert electricity from AC
- alternate current to direct current.
- >> Uh here we have a a rack of diodes which
- does that in a rectifying
- >> in a rectification fashion.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Wow. This is
- >> so you have different diodes.
- >> Yeah.
- >> Wow. I can here. Yeah.
- >> And this is fully customizable. So we
- can get uh multiple combinations of uh
- of voltage and current. So we can have
- very high current application. We can
- have very high voltage application. So
- this is fully customizable.
- >> Wow.
- >> This is all copper and then there are
- transformers right above.
- >> Wow.
- >> Super. Do you have more questions,
- Robert, of this?
- >> Yeah, I'm just actually very I feel like
- a kid, but it's interesting.
- And also uh if we can go where you blow
- up.
- >> Yeah, sure.
- >> Wow. Yeah.
- [Music]
- Oh, this is so amazing.
- Wow. Now we are walking through the the
- lab,
- >> the external test chamber.
- >> Okay, the external test chamber. So here
- you make the test to blow the
- this is for the protections right?
- >> Yep. Exactly.
- >> Amazing. So so fuses, protection
- devices, relays, um circuit breakers, so
- on and so forth.
- >> And how often these tests happen?
- >> Uh quite a lot. Right now it's very busy
- >> and that's the reason we we are here
- super early otherwise uh this will
- already be starting.
- >> Yeah, we came here super early just to
- for the note.
- It
- >> is amazing. It worth it.
- Okay. So, uh it has been amazing being
- here. Thank you very much for for having
- us
- >> and yeah, I I think we can come back for
- more insights.
- >> It's it's it's really cool. I mean,
- especially uh thank you for taking ush
- for the spin in the in the lab because
- uh
- >> being in the office is always fun, but
- it's it's it's about people behind the
- energy and also in the environment that
- they work in.
- >> 100%. So thank you Barrett.
- >> Thank you so much.
- >> Thank you very much and probably see you
- again.
- >> Yeah absolutely for
- >> another interview. So
- >> thank you for the community for watch
- the interview and stay tuned for the
- next episode. See you there.
- [Music]