ALEGrO: New HVDC link optimized by the market to increase societal value

Belgium’s Elia and Germany’s Amprion are constructing ALEGrO, the first 1GW High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) interconnector to connect two countries within an Alternating Current (AC) grid, to allow a high integration of renewable energy, maximise market value, and improve security of supply in the two countries and across the Central West European region.

Objectives:

• Optimisation of interconnector directly in market coupling algorithms, allowing market to determine optimal set points
• Created maximum welfare for entire Central Western Europe (CWE) region and beyond

Main information:

The ALEGrO interconnector will be in the centre of the meshed AC grid, requiring coordination between neighbouring system operators in order to avoid overloads. The utilisation takes these congestions into account and creates maximum welfare by steering the flows in the meshed network, thanks to the new ‘Evolved Flow Based’ method. It is an important development in enabling a higher degree of optimisation of the grid, and a stepping stone in the implementation of Elia’s flex-in-market design for preparing the EU energy system for the challenges in 2030 and beyond.

Additional information:

Elia is the Belgian TSO.