IPTO: FARCROSS project

Increasing cross border capacity between countries in Europe is essential to meet ambitious climate targets, but more progress is needed in the next few years to keep 2025 and beyond targets within reach.  The FARCROSS project validated the capabilities of SmartValves to balance power flows across circuits, alleviating congestion on a 150 kV line in Greece by rerouting power flows to the 400 kV interconnector between Greece and Turkey. This not only created extra capacity for clean energy to flow between the countries, but also reduced curtailment of wind generation in the area.

This FARCROSS project builds on the previous Horizon 2020 project, Flexitranstore, which utilized smart grid technologies to address the challenges of large-scale renewable energy integration and increasing grid flexibility. In this project, Smart Wires’ mobile power flow technology was initially installed in collaboration with IPTO in Greece and was then redeployed to Bulgaria with ESO to explore further uses cases of this technology to address some of the region’s most critical needs.

The project showcases the potential benefits of rolling out this modular power flow control technology across Europe to enhance cross border capacity and accelerate the integration of renewable energy.

The FARCROSS project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 864274. 

The Flexitranstore project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774407.