Issue 1 / 2015

Increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources in the distribution grid by developing control strategies and using ancillary services.


Dear readers,

The FP7 project INCREASE (Increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources in the distribution grid by developing control strategies and using ancillary services) was initiated in September 2013. The project duration is 40 months, the project focuses on how to manage renewable energy sources in LV and MV networks and provide ancillary services (towards DSOs but also TSOs). More information at: http://www.project-increase.eu.

This newsletter will not only give you information on ongoing initiatives, policy news, past and upcoming events but also an overview of the project results.

With best regards,
The INCREASE dissemination team

INCREASE Summer school - This year in Belgium

(Photo Credits: gopixpic.com)
The 1st INCREASE summer school (The distribution grid of tomorrow) is planned for July 14-17, 2015 in Ghent, Belgium.


Read more about the programme and how to apply...

INCREASE- Overview of our first results and ongoing work

INCREASE mitigates overvoltage in LV grid

The INCREASE team analysed the most common solutions to cope with overvoltage, including inverters with ON/OFF switching and droop-based control features. These two techniques place customers connected at the end of a radial feeder in a disadvantageous position as their power generation is curtailed more than their counterparts who are connected closer to the MV/LV transformer. This situation is generally known as unfair power curtailment.

Read more about the proposed INCREASE solution...

50% decrease in curtailment thanks to INCREASE!

The INCREASE solution leads to a 50% decrease in curtailed renewable energy! A three-phase four-wire inverter has been developed which injects power from the renewable sources so that the balance of power between the three phases is restored.

Read more about the results of the first simulations...

INCREASE develops simulation tool

INCREASE partner Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) is developing a flexible simulation tool that will comprise all the benefits of the existing software products, which are short execution times and robust integration of DG control schemes. The proposed tool is based on two software products, namely MATLAB and OpenDSS. The performance of the proposed simulation tool is demonstrated by comparing it to common software products.

Read more about this research and this tool...

INCREASE papers

Paper published in proceedings of ISGT-EU 2014

The paper "Economic evaluation of active network management alternatives for congestion avoidance – the DSO perspective" has been published in the proceedings of the IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies conference (ISGT-EU 2014). The paper describes the results of a long term investment analysis for the deployment of active network management techniques in medium voltage grids, such as dynamic line rating and demand side management as alternative to grid investments or the curtailing of wind generation. This research was carried out by researchers from UGent-iMinds and Eandis.

Complete reference:

"Economic evaluation of active network management alternatives for congestion avoidance - the DSO perspective", in Proc. 5th IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies European Conf. (ISGT-EU 2014), Istanbul, Turkey, October 12-15, 2014.

Paper accepted in EPSR journal

Researchers at UGent together with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) submitted a paper for EPSR (Electric Power Systems Research). The paper is titled: "Voltage dip mitigation capabilities of three-phase damping control strategy" and was accepted for publication.

Read the abstract of the paper here...


Papers preliminary accepted at the PowerTech Conference 2015


Policy framework conditions for provision of ancillary services in a distribution network by distributed RES generation


Fair power curtailment of Distributed Energy Sources to mitigate overvoltages in Low-Voltage networks


A simulation tool for extended distribution grids with controlled distributed generation

Related projects and policy initiatives

REserviceS: outcome and recommendations available now

The publication and recommendations of the REserviceS project in which one of the INCREASE partners, University of Ljubljana took part, were launched at a Final Event on Tuesday September 30, 2014 in Brussels, which attracted 74 participants.

Read more about the final project conclusions and recommendations

ENTSO-E Recommendations on Market Design and Demand Side Response

To integrate 45% of electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) by 2030, new thinking, methods and partnerships are required. In response to the challenges ahead, ENTSO-E is publishing two policy papers on Market Design and Demand Side Response.

Read more about both policy papers

CEER Public Consultation Paper: The Future Role of DSOs

This CEER consultation paper considers different regulatory tools to reflect the current differences in DSOs activity profiles, unbundling and structural and technical issues. CEER invites all interested stakeholders to respond to this public consultation through the dedicated online tool. The deadline for responses is 27 February 2015.

INCREASE meetings and presentations during the past 6 months
The INCREASE consortium met in Ljubljana in September 2014.


Read more about this meeting...


As awareness around the project INCREASE is rising, requests from Belgian organisations were sent to Ghent University to present the project.

Read more about these presentations and events

There has also been foreign interest in the INCREASE project, such as the IGreenGrid conference.

Read more about this

Several partners of INCREASE were also presenting at the 5th IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies European Conference (ISGT-EU 2014) in Istanbul from October 12 to 15, 2014. Eindhoven University of Technology presented their accepted paper "An Integrated Control for Overvoltage Mitigation in the Distribution Network".

UGent-iMinds presented the paper “Economic evaluation of active network management alternatives for congestion avoidance – the DSO perspective” at ISGT-EU 2014.
Upcoming events
Check our events webpage for more


INCREASE Advisory Board Meeting 2015, Aachen, Germany, March 18, 2015.

 Common event DREAM, evolvDSO, IDE4L and INCREASE 2015, Aachen, Germany, March 19, 2015.

CIRED 2015, Lyon, France, June 15-18, 2015.More on this meeting

Powertech 2015, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, June 29–July 2, 2015.More on this meeting

The 4th International Conference on Smart Grid Systems (ICSGS 2015), will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, July 13-14, 2015. Conference website

Contacts & imprint

Project Coordinator

Dr. Ir. Bart Meersman
Mail: bart.meersman@ugent.be
Phone: +32 497 66 71 68

Sophie Gillaerts
Mail: sophie.gillaerts@ugent.be
Phone: +32 9 264 57 02

Dissemination Leader

Mag. Andreas Türk, MBA
Mail: andreas.tuerk@joanneum.at
Phone: +43 316 876 1337