Advanced TSO control rooms to enhance grid observability, stability and resilience

Forthcoming

This is the status published by the official source.

Sign in to bookmark this

Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• Enhanced reliability, resilience, and efficiency of electricity transmission grids. Grid congestion is managed efficiently;
• Enhanced observability of grids and improved forecasting of supply, demand, grid capacity availability, and flexibility;
• Transmission system operators (TSO) leverage modern digital solutions and employ improved systems to effectively manage their grids and improve interoperability with other TSOs;
• Vendor-agnostic reference architectures, solutions and tools are developed to help advancing the TSO control room design and operation. Scope:
Projects are expected to address all the following items:

• Design and test innovative solutions, technologies and processes for advancing the way the TSO control rooms are designed and operated, increasing observability and entailing enhanced support for the operators, providing more automation and enhanced support for decision, faster response times and less room for error. The solutions are expected to incorporate both hardware and software aspects;
• Analyse and include, as far as possible, solutions for Wide Area Monitoring Systems (WAMS) to extend the real-time monitoring and control capabilities over large areas, while coping with the decentralisation and increased complexity of the system;
• The novel solutions are expected to help the operators to manage better grid congestion and incorporate more renewables while reducing curtailment. The solutions will facilitate data-driven grid operations, capitalising on real-time analytics and data from smart assets. The solutions may include preparation, recovery and/or restoration from incidents (including extreme weather events);
• Help the grid operators to update their operational tools in light of the deep transformation of the grids, notably the distributed nature of generation. May include the option to de-centralise the control for increasing the resilience of decision-making;
• Advance forecasting solutions for energy supply, demand and flexibility made available to the system operator, need for ancillary services, as well as for grid hosting capacity; provide advanced analytics and visualisations;
• Develop interoperability between the control rooms of different TSOs (and using different vendor solutions) to secure seamless data exchanges and coordination. Develop interoperability between the TSO control rooms and other entities connected to the transmission grids, including the adjacent DSOs.
• Leverage modern solutions, notably digital twins and artificial intelligence. Use security-by-design and advanced protection mechanisms against cyber threats. Use and/or develop, to the greatest extent possible, open-source software solutions and or software modules;
• Develop a manual and propose best practices on this matter to be used by other TSOs (including operation instructions). Identify remaining gaps and further needs for research and development. The demonstration, test and validation of the activities should be carried out in at least two pilots in different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
Projects are expected to include at least two electricity Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and at least two universities and/or research organisations.
Additionally, collaboration is encouraged with the following entities and projects:

• at least one supplier of technology and solutions for TSO control rooms;
• at least two distribution system operators, which manage grids that are connected to the grids operated by any of the TSOs that are partners in the project;
• (at least) one project funded under the separate call ‘Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution grids’ with the view to strengthen TSO-DSO coordination and support interoperable solutions. To that end, the project proposals are expected to describe a credible mechanism to do so. This collaboration (minimum number of entities) is sought per project in total and does not necessarily apply per each pilot in particular.
Selected projects are expected to contribute to the BRIDGE initiative[1] and actively participate in its activities.
null
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.

[1] https://bridge-smart-grid-storage-systems-digital-projects.ec.europa.eu/

Status

Forthcoming

Deadline

1 December 2027 (time not stated)

Opens

4 August 2027

Published

12 December 2025

Total budget

€28,500,000

Grant range

€9,500,000 – €9,500,000

Country

European Union (EU-wide)

Programme

Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

Funder

European Commission

Official page

Open at the source portal

What applying involves

12 steps, all of them taken from this call's own documents.

Understand the call

• Read the call on the source portal and download its documents
• Write the proposal against the award criteria and thresholds standard for this programme

  are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §5a

• Check the grant's legal and financial set-up standard for this programme

  described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme] Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) Guidance HE … — conditions §6

• Note the opening date — a proposal cannot be submitted before it
• Check the amount you plan to request against the call's range

Check you are eligible

• Confirm your technology readiness level against the range the call states
• Check every partner is established in an eligible country standard for this programme

  described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide — conditions §2

• Meet the call's other eligibility conditions

  If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). In line with the “ restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas ” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by … — conditions §3

• Be able to show financial and operational capacity standard for this programme

  described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §4

Prepare the documents

• Prepare Part B of the Application Form standard for this programme

  Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. — conditions

Submit

• Check the submission and evaluation process standard for this programme

  are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual — conditions §5b

• Submit before the closing date shown above

  The source states the closing day but no closing time — check the portal before the last day. — calls.deadline

Sign in to track these

Other calls under Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

• PV based electrification of the economy: Designing & optimising PV systems supporting industrial electrification and promoting participation in electricity markets (EUPI-PV Partnership)Forthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €18,000,000
• Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution gridsForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €28,500,000
• Community of practice - Data-Driven Decision-Making in EnergyForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €6,000,000
• Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)Forthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €28,500,000
• Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage TechnologiesForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €22,500,000
• Demonstration of hydropower technologies for efficient and forward-looking refurbishment of existing hydropower plantsForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €17,000,000
• Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilotForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €30,000,000
• Revitalising neighbourhoods around existing railway and motorway corridorsForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €11,000,000

All calls under this programme

Similar opportunities

• Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution gridsForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €28,500,000 · same sector, same funder
• Supporting digitalisation of Distribution System Operators for a smart energy transition (Smart Grid Academy)Closed · deadline 16 September 2026 · European Union (EU-wide) · €10,000,000 · same funder, same country
• Increasing competitiveness and resilience of multimodal freight transport and logistics for competitive supply chainsOpen · deadline 8 October 2026 · European Union (EU-wide) · €20,000,000 · same funder, same programme
• Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage TechnologiesForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €22,500,000 · same sector, same funder
• On-site robotic and automated techniques for building renovation and new constructionForthcoming · deadline 15 September 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €20,250,000 · same sector, same funder
• Smart grid-ready buildingsClosed · deadline 18 April 2024 · European Union (EU-wide) · same sector, same funder