In September of 2013 the ERC officially commenced work on the evolvDSO project which is funded by the European Commission under the seventh framework programme (FP7). The project seeks to identify the new distribution system operator roles that will facilitate the evolution of the distribution system to facilitate the full emergence of distribution generation and smart load technologies.

The project consortium consists of 16 partners, joining 12 of the most progressive European DSOs with TSOs and academia across eight countries. It is anticipated that the ERC contribution will be most prominent in the development of new distribution planning tools to address the issues and gaps identified in the initial stages of the project. Dr Andrew Keane and Dr Paul Cuffe will lead the research for us collaborating with ESB Networks. New distribution system operational approaches will be validated both with computer simulation and on real-life test networks with a particular focus on real time simulation using the new Opal-RT real-time digital simulator.
The results of the evolvDSO project will drive the implementation of the EEGI roadmap and ultimately provide a significant aid in reaching EU climate targets.