Electrification coupled with renewable electricity supply is a key pathway to achieve a deep decarbonization of our society and contribute to an energy transition in a sustainable way. The electric energy demand based on distributed renewable sources is going to be even more important and a more efficient, secure, flexible and affordable energy distribution should be envisaged for the next future. If these requirements are not met, the replacement of well-established solutions based on fossil fuels will be unfeasible. Consequently, apart from the evident environmental impacts, collateral effects could occur, such as great blackouts at national and continental level. In this scenario, SAFEPOWER first explores and investigates on essential digital, enabling, and emerging technologies to achieve a new generation of power converters for solar applications: i) capable of anticipating failures to prevent downtime using effective Condition and Health Monitoring (C&HM) solutions assisted by AI strategies, ii) based on more compactly-packaged, efficient, rugged and affordable Silicon Carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs, diodes and solid-state DC breakers with a more sustainable manufacturing, and iii) prospecting on Ga2O3-based emerging power devices (MESFETs, diodes and solid-state DC breakers) especially designed for this application. Leveraging these technologies, SAFEPOWER studies and proposes new converter topologies and control schemes to enhance their compactness, sustainability, competitiveness, and security. Additionally, these technologies streamline cost-effective maintenance through AI-assisted intervention plans and AI-enabled "limp mode" operation with derating strategies, which can be extended to offshore wind energy conversion. Therefore, the adoption of SAFEPOWER's technological solutions in the EU solar sector not only will establish a competitive advantage against non-EU power converter manufacturers, but also will enable their initial deployment within the EU.

Electrification of maritime and IW vessels shows a low progress, since there are several challenges that need to be overcome before battery energy storage systems (BESS) can compete with other solutions towards the decarbonization of vessels. The main challenges are related to the: (i) weight of the BESS, since a high storage capacity represents a significant share of the vessel’s cargo capacity in small/medium sized vessels, (ii) the reliability so that to ensure the trouble-free routing and reduction of operating and maintenance costs, and (iii) the safety that is the key to enable the large-scale adoption and remove any concern of vessel owners. These three aspects constitute the Innovation Pillars of HARPOONERS, and drive the development of a unique modular concept for interfacing with HV on-board grids, characterized by a high compactness due to the integration of key components in a single configuration, thus eliminating the transformer and a cooling system. This “AC battery system” will be developed together with the management systems for a reliable operation in future powertrains of all-electric or hybrid vessels with reduced emissions. The outcome is a reduced weight, reliable and safer BESS that will allow the uptake of the HARPOONERS solution in both maritime and IW vessels, to further increase the battery capacity and achieve a longer autonomy. This is extremely beneficial in small/medium vessels, in which full electrification will be possible, thus eliminating the use of the combustion engine and its associated CO2 and other emissions, but also on large vessels in which the HARPOONERS solution with less use of raw materials will lead to a reduced environmental impact and lower manufacturing and maintenance costs. To achieve this, HARPOONERS has gathered a balanced European-wide partnership with organizations from the key value chains, such as research, battery system and power electronics manufacturers, shipping owners, and a Classification Society.

The transition to electric long-haul trucking facilitated by Megawatt Charging Systems (MCS) is essential for the efficient decarbonization of the logistics transport sector. Despite the significant technological progress made, vital challenges for full adoption and scaling of the MCS systems are still to overcome. Addressing the latter though targeted research and innovation piloting activities will be crucial for realizing the full potential of MCS technology towards a significant leap not only in electrifying the commercial transport but for the achievement of broader environmental goals of the Paris Agreement, EU Green Deal and Fitfor55 package of 90% reduction of the emissions by 2040. In response to the challenges, MACBETH—MULTIPOINT MEGAWATT CHARGING FOR BATTERY ELECTRIC TRUCK HUBS aims to pilot and showcase user-centric MCS charging hubs combined with tools that can facilitate the rapid and mass deployment and scale up of such systems in Europe. To address many of technical, social and economic challenges of mass deployment of megawatt chargers MACBETH intends to build two demonstration sites, in Nordics and Benelux area of Europe with the intention to cover various geographic contexts, operational conditions and scenarios, users’ needs, and business cases and provide valuable experiences and learnings for various industrial, research and policies stakeholders for future deployments. With a strong focus on its industrial cluster, MACBETH contributes to the real-world demonstration of charging infrastructure and service offerings for regional and long-haul electric trucks along TEN-T corridors, logistic terminals, and depots covering multiple countries and it is set to deliver system-level multipoint MCS hub concept at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 8 by the end of the project.