On 8 June 2026, three ongoing Horizon Europe projects organised a two-hour webinar on the deployment of hybrid alternative current (AC) and direct current (DC) grids to modernise Europe’s energy system, by integrating renewables and driving further electrification. The discussion included speakers from academia, IPTO – a transmission system operator, DG ENER from the European Commission and Cleantech industry representatives. The webinar dealt with barriers and potential solutions for the deployment of new technologies in the electricity grid, with a focus on an increasing role of DC in the grid.
A full recording of the webinar “Smart, Resilient and Reliable: Building the Architecture of Europe’s Hybrid AC and DC Grids” can be accessed here and the presentations are available here.
Introduction and presentations
The Moderator Paola Mazzucchelli from the technology centre CIRCE in Spain welcomed participants. She highlighted that R&I as well as deployment of electricity grid technologies are essential for Europe’s clean energy transition and resilience. She gave the word to the keynote speaker.
- Eric Lecomte, Policy Officer in the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission
He gave an introductory presentation on recent European initiatives linked to RD&I in electricity grids. He stressed that Europe has to decarbonize in a way that protects its prosperity, social model and energy security. Hybrid AC/DC grids and HVDC must be delivered at an affordable system cost and in a way that infrastructure can be adequately protected both physically and from cyber-attacks.
He presented the June 2026 European Commission Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI that is linked to RES and grid deployment. He highlighted that its Pillar II on AI and smart grids may be relevant to projects that will be discussed. He then focused on EU R&D: the SET Plan and its groups, including DC IWG, are helping to align EU research priorities and agendas; he also showed a list of past and present Horizon Europe calls related to DC technologies, encouraging interested parties to apply.
In the Q&A, EUREC asked what could be expected from the new European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) for grid innovation and for the deployment of new technologies like DC.
DG ENER replied that the post-2027 EU budget will gather significant funding for research and competitiveness. Both Horizon Europe and the Innovation Fund will stay in place. The new ECF is also a key part of the puzzle, but as it is currently being negotiated, we will have to wait to see how it will operate.
The Moderator introduced the speakers of the three DC-related projects that co-organised this workshop. Each of them briefly outlined the aims of their project and key recommendations.
- Romina Ines Lobera Duiz (CIRCE) – THEUS project
THEUS aims to showcase advanced methodologies and tools supporting hybrid grids implementation across High Voltage (HV), Medium Voltage (MV), and Low Voltage (LV) levels. THEUS will demonstrate hybrid AC/DC integration in five real and planned grids and it aims to reduce energy losses by 10-30%.
- Alberto Dognini (EPRI Europe) – InterSCADA project
InterSCADA is developing an open-source software framework, corresponding to a modular SCADA platform, for the analysis and control of hybrid AC/DC power grids at multiple voltage levels. It builds on the forerunner SOGNO platform and it will have four pilot sites working at different voltage levels. Currently there are several barriers blocking HVDC, including a lack of regulatory incentives to enter the market, lack of adequate DC regulation and lack of clarity on DSO-TSO roles.
- Dirk Van Herten (KU Leuven) – DCforEU project
DCforEU is a project that supports the Implementation Working Group on DC technologies (DC IWG), which is part of the European SET Plan. The EU needs massive investment in electricity grids, at least €1,2 trillion, with around two-thirds going to distribution and the remaining third to transmission. DC technology is already present in many places (e.g. PV, batteries, data centres, wind, etc), but it’s still underused at grid level. Europe needs to step up private and public funding of DC R&I.
Panel discussion and questions from the audience
After the presentations, the moderator had a panel discussion with the following speakers:
- Efthimia Chassioti, IPTO (TSO)
- Daniel Vig, Energy Storage Europe (federation)
- Dirk Van Herten, KU Leuven (university)
- Alberto Dognini, EPRI Europe (organisation)
Efthimia said that the electricity market, with sector coupling and increasing RES generation, is moving to a more dynamic system, which needs good TSO-DSO coordination and more coordination with distributed sources, like virtual power plants and bidirectional car charging. Better reward mechanisms and more grid-forming capabilities are necessary to further support the energy transition.
Alberto highlighted that SCADA systems offer a unified framework for system operators, helping them to know when to activate what. The purpose is to lower the entry costs for small and mid-sized operators.
Daniel said that bringing more electricity storage (mainly batteries and pump hydro) will reduce overall system costs by reducing renewable energy curtailment and congestion. However, at the moment, price signals are not clear enough for the battery sector to keep investing and expanding.
Dirk explained that data centres’ expected growing energy demand can be mitigated by linking them directly with DC grids to renewables, thereby cutting out conversion costs.
A participant agreed that we should go for low-hanging fruit for DC systems like data centres, but we should keep a wider view of other promising sectors where DC is also suitable.
Daniel pointed out that R&I in the field of storage is often linked to long-term storage, where, at the moment, natural gas dominates. Since the EU has mandatory natural gas storage targets before each winter, this limits the will to look for alternative solutions to gas storage and to innovate. For instance, thermal energy storage technologies have shown promising results so far, but unfortunately, market rules have not been taking them into account adequately, so, often, they land in behind-the-meter uses in industry.
Dirk expressed that the fast-changing environment needs key stakeholders to be less conservative and move faster in trying and adopting new technologies. Efthimia replied that European projects are the right place to innovate, and the lessons learned in them will trickle down in TSOs day-to-day work.
In conclusion, moving towards a sustainable electricity-based system requires fundamental changes in the way the current fossil fuel-based system operates, both in terms of technologies, market conditions, and regulatory framework. Investing in new technologies, such as hybrid AC/DC networks, while developing a favourable regulatory framework, able to provide correct market signals, is paramount to reach this objective.
The Moderator Paola Mazzucchelli from CIRCE thanked speakers and participants. She said that minutes will be circulated soon and closed the session.
