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High-voltage measurement for the energy transition

Annual Report 2020
03.03.2021

The mobile measuring facility in PTB’s free field consists of a high-voltage generator (in the foreground) that is modular, can easily be transported and can generate DC voltages of up to 2 million volts. The divider can be seen in the background.

Scientists from PTB have developed a facility for generating and testing very high DC voltages for future “power highways”. This facility is the first one worldwide that is modular and can easily be transported. This will contribute to making the power grid fit for the energy transition, as in the future, power will no longer be transported only by means of the well-established AC power technique, but increasingly also by means of high-voltage-DC (HVDC) transmission. Modern energy grids are, however, extremely complex systems with the growing number of decentral producers of regenerative power. Energy generation fluctuates, which leads to reduced voltage quality and to increased instability in the transmission grid. This means a strain for numerous components – and thus a risk for the reliability of the energy transmission system. Uniform standards for testing grid components as to their suitability under these new conditions had been lacking so far. With its research, PTB has now succeeded in providing a metrological basis for the standardized testing of grid components.

Another European research project is focusing on measuring power losses. Being able to quantify these losses is extremely important to bill the costs, in particular for high voltage, where large amounts of energy are transported.