The REDEP project addresses the need to strengthen the electricity networks of the Aurora region in the face of rapid growth of distributed renewable energy and the harsh conditions of the Arctic climate. Long rural feeders, sparse customer density, and severe weather events create vulnerability to outages and limit hosting capacity for small-scale production. At the same time, producers and consumers are increasingly installing solar and wind resources, creating fluctuating and often reverse power flows. Without innovative solutions, this situation risks reducing network reliability, slowing the green transition, and undermining the competitiveness of rural regions.
The project will develop, test, and demonstrate new methods that increase grid resilience and utilization. Work package one focuses on resilience for distributed energy production, delivering guidelines, demonstrators, and operational solutions that help operators integrate renewables and storage while maintaining voltage quality and system stability. Work package two develops and validates distributed line and weather monitoring systems, including energy-autonomous sensors, to enable dynamic line rating, real-time diagnostics, and faster fault localization. The main targhet group for the project is operators of electrical grids on regional and local level who are active in the Interreg Aurora region. The results will also be relevant for producers and users of small-scale distributed energy production.
Contact: Jonny Johansson, Project Leader, Luleå University of Technology, jonny.johansson@ltu.se.
