About the project

DC-POWER proposes a local medium voltage direct current distribution bus architecture—the D3Bus (for Dual DC Distribution Bus)—at the Megawatt level, building on work done on low voltage DC distribution grids for lower power levels and extending this into the medium voltage range. D3Bus is envisioned to manage electric power distribution at building/site level, incorporating industrial high-power loads as well as local energy generation and storage. This will be demonstrated in two operational pilots, in a data centre and in an industrial application.

Our main objective is to show that direct current grid at medium voltage for local distribution operating at bipolar ±1.5 kV—with a significant local, fluctuating generation through RES—leads to at least a 50% reduction of distribution energy losses, at least a 50% reduction in the copper used in conductors, and at least a 50% reduction of down-time compared to a standard 400V 3-phase AC local distribution grid.

DC-POWER has outlined six specific objectives, designed to address the project key challenge:

• Objective 1: 50% reduction in energy losses
• Objective 2: Reduced space needed for power distribution
• Objective 3: 50% reduction in estimated down-time, due to reduced number and type of down-time causing components
• Objective 4: Cost reduction of the primary distribution microgrid
• Objective 5: Reduced energy imports from the main grid
• Objective 6: Increased power quality

To demonstrate the D3 bus system concept, DC-POWER will use 2 pilot sites incorporating large solar PV arrays:

- Hydrogen Electrolyser of 1,2 MW in San Miniato, Italy

- Data Centre of 130 kW in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Find out more about the DC-Power System