TOWARDS A MORE
ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND
SUSTAINABLE PATH

The RF2.0 partners envision a future where accelerators are designed, operated, and supplied with 100% renewable energy, ensuring secure and stable performance at any time. This approach aims to make operations nearly independent of the public power grid while significantly reducing environmental impact.

Partners: 6 Accelerator Research Facilities,
4 High-tech SMEs

4 demonstrator
projects

Project duration:
1/2024-12/2026

Budget:
5,6 Mio €

EC Call:
INFRA-2023-TECH-01-01

Latest news

Research facility 2.0

RF2.0 is a Horizon Europe funded project that aims to design, develop and validate novel solutions for components and systems, that allow to transform particle accelerators in more sustainable and energy efficient research infrastructures.

The achieved innovations will also benefit medical centres, data centres, industrial plants, and High-tech companies that have very similar characteristics and face the same challenges.

News & Events

  • Science City Day of DESY in Hamburg

  • On the 1st June 2024, in the context of the Science City Day, organized in Hamburg Bahrenfeld, our partner DESY opened its doors to the… read more

  • RF2.0 was represented at the RICH Europe Symposium in Madrid

  • On the 7th May 2024, RICH Europe’s first Symposium of Research Infrastructures took place in Madrid. RICH Europe is an EU funded Coordination and Support Action with… read more

Partners

learn more

RF2.0
Approach

Al-assisted load management

New highly-efficient and reliable components

Power consumption flexibility approaches for providing grid services

Sustainable low carbon technologies integration

learn more

RF2.0
Approach

Al-assisted load management

New highly-efficient and reliable components

Power consumption flexibility approaches for providing grid services

Sustainable low carbon technologies integration

learn more

This project website is under construction – this landing page will soon be expanded.

TOWARDS A MORE
ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND SUSTAINABLE PATH

Challenges

Large-scale research facilities as particle accelerators are usually energy-intensive systems, which during their operations can have a yearly average energy consumption of about hundreds of GWh. This is comparable to the consumption of large metropolitan cities in Europe.

Considering the current energy mix, where the renewables cover only half of the power production, the carbon footprint of accelerators is not negligible. In addition, the large quantity of raw materials required for their constructions and operations has an impact on the environmental sustainability of these infrastructures. Previous studies targeted the reduction of energy consumption, carbon footprint emission or material sustainability, but they were limited to specialized studies on specific technical topics.

Solutions

RF2.0 will design, develop and on-field validate novel energy solutions for components and systems, that allow to transform particle accelerators in sustainable and energy efficient research infrastructures.

Following the RF2.0 approach, the focus lies on:

  • New highly-efficient components: permanent magnets for beam guiding and focusing magnets for accelerators, Solide State Amplifiers for accelerator high power RF systems
  • AI-assisted power management: optimized operations during beamtime, accelerated start-up and shut-down operations, digital twins for accelerators design and operations
  • Low carbon technologies integration: renewables and energy storage systems integration, power electronics-based transmission
  • Power consumption flexibility approaches for providing grid services: power-flexible high power computing, fast-dynamic monitoring systems

Through 4 demonstrator projects, the energy saving of the proposed solutions will be validated under realistic conditions

Impact

Thanks to its holistic approach, RF2.0 addresses all expected outcomes of the Horizon Europe call for the development of new technologies and solutions for reducing the environmental and climate footprint of research infrastructures within Europe.

The achieved innovations within RF2.0 will not only benefit research infrastructures, but go far beyond. Medical centers, data centers, industrial plants, and high-tech companies have very similar characteristics and face the same challenges.

RF2.0 develops a methodology for addressing those challenges, offering a flexible and multi-disciplinary energy management strategy as well as new technologies and solutions for such energy-intensive facilities of high societal relevance. 

Energy lab 2.0 at KIT- Large-scale
research infrastructure
for renewable energy

ApproachThe RF2.0 partners have identified several bottlenecks towards this goal: at component and system level, involving both the physics and the energy technology topics in an interdisciplinary and unique approach

ApproachThe RF2.0 partners have identified several bottlenecks towards this goal: at component and system level, involving both the physics and the energy technology topics in an interdisciplinary and unique approach

Al-assisted load management

  • New energy management approaches using AI
  • Digital twins of accelerator components and systems

New highly-efficient and reliable components

  • Permanent magnets
  • Semiconductor technologies
  • Solid-State Amplifiers

Power consumption flexibility approaches for providing grid services

  • Power electronics
    and DC grids
  • Fast measurement systems
    (Phasor Measurement Units)
  • Energy costs and resources analysis

Sustainable low carbon technologies integration

  • Energy storage systems and technologies (batteries, supercaps, hydrogen)
  • Flexible power consumption as for HPC centres / Renewable power-driven scientific computing

RF2.0
Approach

Vision

The RF2.0 partners vision is to design, operate and supply accelerators anytime in a secure and stable way on 100% renewable energy, i.e., almost independently from the public power grid, while reducing their environmental impact.

Partners