Get Free Access to Leading Smart Grid and Energy Systems Labs and Services

ERIGrid 2.0 invites all interested engineers involved in the domains of power system testing, smart grids and energy systems to receive free funding to access the best laboratories of Europe and perform their own experimental research. There are two kinds of lab access services available in ERIGrid 2.0:

Free Access to 21 Physical Labs

Physical free access to our laboratories can be performed on-site at the location of the lab or remotely if the infrastructure allows. To get this access you need to apply as described below and to be selected by the independent User Selection Panel (USP). 

If your application is successful, you will receive funding for your research stay at the location of the laboratory you selected, completely covering the following expenses:

Travelling

Accommodation

All lab operation costs and physical lab access to ERIGrid 2.0 testing and simulation facilities

Access to concentrated know-how and best practices in the field of smart grid and energy systems, such as: power system components characterisation and evaluation, smart grid ICT/automation validation, co-simulation, real-time simulation and Power/Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), and others.

IMPORTANT UPDATE JULY 2023: Lab access applications can only be considered from user groups coming from the European Union and/or Associated Countries! Further details are provided in the FAQ.

Please note that applications close automatically on the date of the deadline, and no late applications can be accepted. 

The schedule of calls for lab access applications is as follows:

  • 1st call: 1 October 2020 – 31 December 2020 (closed)
  • 2nd call: 1 February 2021 – 30 April 2021 (closed)
  • 3rd call: 1 June 2021 – 31 August 2021 (closed)
  • 4th call: 1 October 2021 – 31 December 2021 (closed)
  • 5th call: 1 February 2022 – 30 April 2022 (closed)
  • 6th call: 1 June 2022 – 31 August 2022 (closed)
  • 7th call: 1 October 2022 – 31 December 2022 (closed)
  • 8th call: 1 February 2023 – 30 April 2023 (closed)
  • 9th call: 1 June 2023 – 31 August 2023 (closed)
  • 10th call: 1 October 2023 – 31 December 2023 (closed)
  • 11th call: 10 January 2024 – 31 March 2024
  • 12th call: 1 April 2024 – 30 June 2024 (opens in April 204)
  • 13th call: 1 July 2024 – 30 September 2024 (opens in July 2024) – last submission possibility in ERIGrid 2.0!
Free Access to 10 Virtual Facilities

The access to the virtual facilities requires no specific application and user proposals are not submitted to a selection process.

You can access and start using the free virtual services right away taking the following points into account:

The provided virtual data, services and resources are openly and freely available under open access licenses through communication networks.

Access to virtual services allows for a quick, easy and casual access to existing virtual resources by eliminating administrative obstacles.

Users can try the provided virtual services without obligations.

No individual support or supervision is offered to the users.

To stay informed about the lab access programme and detailed descriptions of the facilities and services, bookmark this page or just subscribe to the ERIGrid newsletter to receive all the updates  directly in your inbox.

Physical Labs and Virtual Services

Access to physical labs can be on-site or remote, depending on the conditions of specific laboratories. To know if remote access can be organised in your case, please contact the laboratory staff through corresponding subpages below.

Physical Lab Access Application Process

Identify your experimental needs: empirical topic and testing/validation goals

STEP 1

Select potential labs (up to 3) which are suitable for your topic

STEP 2

Build up your team or decide to apply as an individual user

STEP 3

Write the proposal using this template

STEP 4

Your proposal will be evaluated by independent reviewers from this list — Please point out any names that may involve a conflict of interest in the proposal submission system

STEP 5

Register yourself in the proposal submission system and submit your proposal – list all user group members in the submission system (same list as in the proposal)

STEP 6
ERIGrid 2.0 partners offer a wide range of installations and competences to assist successful applicants with conducting experiments. Such a common framework of applied smart grid expertise will accelerate the development of an integrated pan-European research infrastructure.​
Thomas Strasser (AIT)
Coordinator of ERIGrid 2.0

Physical Lab Access Selection Criteria

Your proposal for physical lab access must meet the following criteria:

  • Scientific and technical relevance, originality and innovation, methodology, robust and realistic test/evaluation approach
  • Prospect of knowledge enhancement at the research infrastructures
  • Completeness and organisation of the proposal, clear definition of the objectives and expected results, relevance of the proposed dissemination actions, justified amount of requested access
  • Compliance with European RTD policies and priorities; prospect of social impact and impact on EU industry. New users, young researchers, female researchers are especially welcome.

IMPORTANT UPDATE JULY 2023: Lab access applications can only be considered from user groups coming from the European Union and/or Associated Countries! Further details are provided in the FAQ.

The evaluation will be performed by the User Selection Panel, an international independent group of experts with diverse profiles (academia, industry) covering the different domains of the smart energy systems (power systems, ICT, etc.). In parallel, a technical and economic feasibility check for the potential lab implementation will be done by the addressed ERIGrid 2.0 infrastructures.

Physical Lab Access FAQ

Applications are submitted by User Groups (UG). A UG is a team of one or more researchers from one or more institutions/companies which is led by a so-called user group leader. Despite the fact that the user group implementing the project in the lab is normally composed by two researchers, one single researcher is also allowed. Unless fully justified, the maximum number must be always kept to three researchers getting access to the lab.

The typical duration of a user project may vary from about one week up to one month. Longer stays up to two or three month are in principle possible but in such a case the targeted hosting infrastructure should be contacted in advance in order to check lab availability and potential budget restrictions.

General information and details about the access program are provided here on this page. In case of further questions related to technical and administrative topics the user groups are kindly invited to get in direct contact with the hosting labs via the contact information of the corresponding lab.

According to the H2020 participation rules (GA Art. 16.1) the User Group (UG) leader and the majority of the UG members must work in a country other than the one where the requested infrastructure is located.

Note: Since partner JRC is considered as an international organization this rule doesn’t apply for the corresponding JRC laboratories.

The European Commission states “In conformity with the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, the UK and persons or entities established in the UK continue to be eligible to receive Union funds under actions carried out in direct, indirect or shared management, which implement Union programmes and activities committed under the MFF 2014-2020 until the closure of those Union programmes and activities. This includes Horizon 2020 actions. When restrictions apply, these will be clearly specified in the call for proposals.” This agreement also applies for ERIGrid 2.0 which means that lab access user groups from the UK are still eligible.

You need to be employed by organisations located in the European Union (EU) and/or Associated Countries (incl. UK as outlined in the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement). Limited access is also provided to applicants from non-EU countries and other developing countries. Further information about this limitation is provided in the Lab Access Guide.

IMPORTANT UPDATE JULY 2023: Lab access applications can only be considered from user groups coming from the European Union and/or Associated Countries since the target for non-EU groups has been reached!

We are taking potential plagiarism issues seriously (in accordance to the general H2020 strategy). Therefore, all submitted proposals of User Groups (UG) are checked against plagiarism. Proposals with an unjustified high amount of similarity will not be considered for realization; i.e., they will be rejected! 

The entire evaluation process is expected to be completed in a time frame of about one to two months after the submission deadline. Please don’t try to contact us about the status of the evaluation process during this time since the the evaluation and checking of all proposals need some time. In case you haven’t received any feedback from us within two month after the submission deadline, please feel free to get in contact with us. 

When a proposal is accepted, a focussed interaction between the User Group (UG) and the host lab starts to agree on the access period, and the technical and administrative details. A contract must be signed before the commencement of the project implementation in the lab. It is expected that approved user projects are implemented within six month after the approval notification (currently not binding due to COVID-19 pandemic). More details will be provided in the proposal acceptance notification. 

Usually, each user group needs to sign a contract with the hosting lab which outlines the rules under the lab access project is implemented. A contract model is provided here. Please note that the host lab can modify this contract model to cope with individual institution conditions and country regulations.

Yes, you must be able to publicly report about the conducted project and its achievements (except SMEs). The goal is to publish all reports of all user groups at ERIGrid 2.0’s Zenodo Open Data Repository Community. The hosting lab will provide each user group with more details before and during the execution of the project.

When the access is finished the User Group (UG) must report on the obtained results producing a “Technical Report”. This is a mandatory condition (except for SMEs) to benefit from this opportunity. More details are provided in the Lab Access Guide.

You can find examples of already completed projects by successful lab access users in ERIGrid-1 and their success stories.

Usually, it is expected that approved user projects are implemented within six month after the approval notification. This deadline is currently not binding due to COVID-19 pandemic. The ERIGrid 2.0 project tries to be as flexible as possible and takes care of present possibilities and restrictions. Corresponding user groups should discuss together with the hosting lab all possibilities (project postponement, remote lab access, etc.).

For any questions you can contact us here.