Smart Grids support the electrification of energy uses, such as the use of electric vehicles or heat pumps. They are the point of interconnection of all energy resources, with the challenge of integrating significant amounts of renewable energy.
In addition, the crossroads between technological advances in storage and renewable energies is leading to new applications, where batteries can help increase the integration of renewable energies into tomorrow's electricity networks.
At the R&D, our researchers are characterising the performance of batteries, on parameters such as technology evaluation and the development of algorithms for controlling storage resources. Discover our laboratories dedicated to the study of storage and batteries.
We offer you here a first overview of our laboratories and testing facilities, not exhaustive. Please visit our page regularly, as more content will be added in the coming weeks and months.
Visit the Concept Grid test facility... in 360°!
This test facility covers 3 hectares and allows us to anticipate and support the evolution of electrical systems. The aim is to integrate the development of renewable energy production and new energy uses (electric vehicles and heat pumps, for example).
Visit the SEGP laboratory... in 360°!
This building is about 30 meters high, with a thickness of one meter of reinforced concrete and a capacity of 130,000 amperes. It is used to test very high voltage electrical equipment, sometimes even destroying the equipment.
Visit the accelerated aging room... in 360°!
This space, with a volume of 675 m3, allows the life span of a material to be tested. When a device or a system is subjected to constraints, whether electrical, climatic or environmental, there is a risk of degradation of the materials that make it up. It is therefore necessary to assess the long-term aging resistance of these materials.
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EDF R&D studies batteries
This laboratory, which was inaugurated in 2017, enables the reproduction of thermal stresses and strains or seasonal variations close to real battery use cases using test tracks and climatic chambers. A specially dedicated area also allows abusive safety tests to be carried out on batteries, such as puncture, overheating, short-circuit or overcharge tests.
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The numerical control platform
EDF's R&D department uses its expertise, methods and tools to offer digital control engineering for substations covering needs up to the design of a complete unit. To this end, it has set up a control command test platform at the EDF Lab Paris-Saclay site, which plays a key role in qualification and integration tests.
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High voltage laboratories
Spread over more than 40 hectares, discover the high-voltage labs of the department dedicated to the study of electrical equipment at the R&D. Hall 420kV, climatic chamber, lightning generators and Faraday cage will no longer hold any secrets for you!