On 19 March, the Energy Systems Club met at RTE’s offices in Marseille to discuss a key issue: the resilience and stability of electricity grids in the face of the growing share of renewable energy.
Combining strategic vision, technical expertise and feedback from the field, the event aimed to address a key question: how can networks be adapted to integrate increasingly decentralised and intermittent sources of generation, whilst ensuring their stability?
Indeed, the transformation of the energy mix is giving rise to new challenges: a reduction in the inertia of the electricity system due to the expansion of solar and wind farms, since this inertia is currently provided mainly by the generators at thermal (gas, nuclear) and hydroelectric power stations; the emergence of new risks of voltage fluctuations and instability, and new systemic vulnerabilities (for example, regarding the restart of facilities in the event of a blackout), if no measures are put in place in the medium term. In this context, grids are becoming more complex to manage and require new technological and organisational approaches.
The event featured presentations by experts with a technical focus on grid forming, as well as pitches for solutions to illustrate these challenges through real-life project examples, complemented by a site visit.
Network resilience: 3 key takeaways:
- Towards more actively managed networks
The initiatives led in particular by RTE, Capsim and the Laboratory of Computer Science and Systems (LIS) have highlighted a major development: the shift from “grid-following” converters to “grid-forming” technologies, capable of stabilising the grid by generating their own voltage and frequency reference. This is a key component for the large-scale integration of renewable energy sources whilst maintaining system stability.
- The key role of storage systems
Feedback from the field by Watt&Well highlighted the emergence of a new market centred on BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) associated with grid-forming converters (2th and 3th (generation) in grid operation. These technologies not only enable the integration of renewables, but also provide system services (stability and security), provided they are correctly sized and managed.
- Data and AI as drivers of operational resilience
The solutions presented by Hensoldt Nexeya France, Edge Spectrum, LDK360 and CetraC have highlighted a clear trend: the rise of advanced monitoring, predictive maintenance and decision-support tools. Embedded AI, real-time monitoring and augmented dispatching tools make it possible to anticipate failures, optimise operations and strengthen the overall resilience of infrastructure.
See you on 2 July for the second 2026 edition of the Energy Systems Club:
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