Imagine if your building's electrical system worked like a giant battery instead of the traditional alternating current we've used for a century. This system lets solar panels and batteries plug directly into heavy machinery without wasting energy converting it back and forth. It's like switching from a winding country road to a direct highway for electricity.
Traditional AC grids are inefficient for modern loads like data centers and electrolysers, which naturally run on DC. This leads to high energy losses and excessive material costs during power conversion.
A bipolar ±1.5 kV DC distribution bus (D3-Bus) including active frontends, DC/DC appliance drivers, PV converters, and battery storage systems.
If you are a cloud provider dealing with high energy costs and power outages — this project developed a D3-Bus system that can power a data center with up to 500 kW installed IT power. It integrates a directly coupled DC UPS to reduce downtime by at least 50% compared to standard AC grids.
If you are a plant operator dealing with massive energy losses in power conversion — this project developed a medium voltage DC architecture that powers a 2 MW electrolyser stack. This setup can reduce distribution energy losses by over 90% compared to 400V AC systems.
If you are a facility manager dealing with the inefficiency of connecting solar arrays to AC grids — this project developed PV system converters that feed 200kW solar arrays directly into a DC bus. This reduces the amount of copper needed for conductors by at least 50%.
It lowers costs by reducing distribution energy losses by over 90% and cutting the amount of copper required for conductors by at least 50%.
Yes, the project is designed for megawatt-scale grids, specifically demonstrating a 2 MW power application for hydrogen electrolysers.
Based on available project data, the project aims to create a first stepping-stone towards industry-wide standardization of MVDC distribution microgrids.
The system is designed to reduce downtime by at least 50% compared to a standard 400V 3-phase AC local distribution grid.
The project is active from 2024-01-01 to 2027-12-31, with the first 18 months focused on component development.
The consortium is heavily industry-driven, with 9 industrial partners representing 75% of the 12 total members. This high ratio of industry to academic partners (only 1 university and 2 research centers) indicates a strong focus on commercial viability and practical deployment rather than pure theoretical research.
Contact the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) in France.
Contact us to connect with the DC-POWER consortium for MVDC integration opportunities.
