Consortium

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the Research University in the Helmholtz Association, the only German university of excellence with a national large-scale research sector.v

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

KITTEN – Collage of accelerator KARA and Energy Lab (Image Markus Breig)

Contribution to the project:
KIT will develop AI-based load control strategies and integrate sustainable low carbon technologies for energy saving in accelerators, in addition to novel control strategies for providing grid services and increasing power flexibility of accelerators.

Find out more about KIT: kit.edu/research/

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the Research University in the Helmholtz Association, the only German university of excellence with a national large-scale research sector.

KIT participates with KARA, the Karlsruhe Research Accelerator and the Energy Lab, forming the new research infrastructure KITTEN (→ ibpt.kit.edu/kitten), which aims to improve energy efficiency and sustainability in accelerators.

KARA provides a 2.5 GeV electron storage ring and serves as an accelerator test facility and light source for experiments with synchrotron radiation. Together with the Accelerator Technology Platform (ATP) at KIT it offers a broad spectrum of methods for research, such as superconducting magnet technology, simulation, diagnostics and detector development, ultra-fast readout electronics, software development incl. AI methods and machine learning as well as laser-based electron accelerator.
Energy Lab is a large-scale research infrastructure for designing the future energy systems. The focus is on researching the interaction of components for future energy systems and testing of new approaches to stabilizing energy grids. Energy Lab is working extensively in the domain of digital real time simulation, digital twinning, and experimental validation of energy resources.

Sustainability-related research & activities:  Scientist from KARA and the Energy Lab joined forces to address the energy efficiency and grid stability in a combined real-world demonstrator test facility for the analysis and development of novel solutions for more efficient and sustainable research infrastructures (KITTEN).

ALBA Synchrotron

Aerial view of the ALBA Synchrotron in Barcelona, Spain

Find out more about ALBA: cells.es/en

ALBA is the Spanish synchrotron light source, a large research infrastructure operating ten beamlines, complementary facilities, and an Electron Microscopy Center, this last in partnership with other institutions.

Currently ALBA is constructing multiple more beamlines and expanding the Electron Microscopy Center, and integrating advanced data analytics, it sums up a wide range of infrastructures geared toward finding solutions to societal challenges.

Sustainability-related research & activities: ALBA established a multi-dimension environmental sustainability action plan within its new project upgrade ALBAII. It includes the introduction of environmental sustainability criteria in all construction contracts of this future research infrastructure. ALBA´s aim is using carbon neutral energy supplies by mid-2030, which will be reinforced by with the installation of solar power plants in the old and the new buildings, and several other actions in terms of improving energy efficiency of components and systems.

Contribution to the project:
New-highly efficient components

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)

Drone views over the CERN Science Gateway in Geneva, Switzerland

Find out more about CERN: home.cern

CERN is the largest particles physics laboratory worldwide, operating the Large Hardon Collider, which is the most powerful accelerator with 27km lengths and running at 6.8TeV.

Currently, CERN is leading a feasibility study for a Future Circular Collider, developing designs for the next generation of higher performance particle colliders.

Sustainability-related research & activities: CERN investigates energy efficiency measures, both at component and system levels, in order to reduce the overall energy consumption with focus on advancement of superconductors and magnets technologies, operating model, High-efficiency klystrons, pulsed power systems and heat-recovery solutions. The current work is at analysis stage for new projects as the Future Circular Collider.

Contribution to the project: Design of future accelerators with power consumption flexibility approaches and energy management strategies, integrating dynamic measurement systems to monitor power flows.

COMMTIA Systems

COMMTIA headquarters and facility in Barcelona, Spain

Find out more about COMMTIA: commtia.com/

COMMTIA is a company specialized in Radio Frequency, microwave and professional electronics technologies.

COMMTIA is devoted to the design, development, manufacture and installation of equipment, systems and solutions for critical infrastructures in different market segments, such as Broadcasting Digital Networks, Timing & Synchronization, Defence & Security, or Scientific applications.

Sustainability-related research & activities: COMMTIA has been leading the market of high efficiency Solid- State Amplifiers (SSA) for broadcasting applications since 2012 and in 2013 the first ever high efficiency transmitter for Digital Radio followed. For the scientific segment, COMMTIA designs and provides high efficiency SSA solutions. The latest development has been a 5KW CW SSA operating at 1500MHz for ALBA’s third harmonic cavity which reaches an outstanding overall efficiency.

Contribution to the project: Solid-state amplifiers account for a significant portion of the energy consumption in accelerators. COMMTIA’s contribution is to enhance the operational efficiency of RF amplifiers while maintaining performance at reduced RF output power levels. This will be achieved by developing a new active parametrization digital control focused on improving efficiency at reduced RF levels, and a new non-linear Solid-State amplifier board with intrinsically higher efficiency.

Cryoelectra GmbH

Cryoelectra main factory in Wuppertal, Germany

Find out more about Cryelectra: cryoelectra.com/

CRYOELECTRA develops and manufactures custom designed Solid-state RF amplifiers and digital LLRF control systems for particle accelerators and industrial applications since 1992, supporting customers worldwide with their expertise in the field of particle accelerators and RF technology.

Sustainability-related research & activities:
During the development of new high-power Solid-state amplifiers (SSA), Cryoelectra´s focus is on achieving highest efficiency in order to reduce total cost of ownership and to have a minimal environmental impact of its SSA. The latest achievement is the development of the CRE-350D, a 1.3GHz 130kW amplifier with greater than 60% efficiency.

Contribution to the project: Since energy efficiency is crucial for a sustainable device, Cryoelectra uses only the latest technologies in its high-power SSA. This requires continuous development for almost all components. As a main contribution, Cryoelectra will develop and implement an adaptive control system that automatically maximizes energy efficiency for each operating point of the RF power transistors.

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

DESY site Hamburg with main accelerator facilities

Find out more about DESY: desy.de/research/accelerators

DESY (Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron) is one of the world’s leading accelerator centres running three independent accelerator facilities – European XFEL, Petra III and FLASH. Researchers use the large-scale facilities at DESY to explore the microcosm in all its variety – from the interactions of tiny elementary particles and the behaviour of new types of nanomaterials to biomolecular processes that are essential to life.

The accelerators and detectors that DESY develops and builds are unique research tools. The facilities generate the world’s most intense X-ray light, accelerate particles to record energies and open completely new windows onto the universe.
That makes DESY not only a magnet for more than 3000 guest researchers from over 40 countries every year, but also a coveted partner for national and international cooperations. Committed young researchers find an exciting interdisciplinary setting at DESY. The research centre offers specialized training for a large number of professions. DESY cooperates with industry and business to promote new technologies that will benefit society and encourage innovations. This also benefits the metropolitan regions of the two DESY locations, Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berlin.

Sustainability-related research & activities:  DESY has an overall laboratory wide sustainability strategy that is continuously updated. It has converted its energy supply to 100% renewable energy sources since 2023, and monitors the energy consumption in order to identify potential improvement points. DESY is engaged in various projects with sustainability topics. Furthermore, data centre topics are focused and will be considered in the planning phase for the proposed new facility PETRA-IV.

Contribution to the project: Power consumption flexibility approaches for providing grid services; Sustainable low carbon technologies integration

Elytt Energy SL

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Contribution to the project: New-highly efficient components

Find out more about Elytt: elytt.com/

ELYTT Energy is an innovative Spanish company with international experience, working in high technology projects in the field of energy and particles accelerators.

They design, engineer and manufacture projects for research facilities, delivering complex systems manufactured with tight tolerances. Elytt designs and manufactures resistive and superconducting magnets and power supplies for particle accelerators of all types as well as fusion reactor Toroidal and Poloidal Field coils.

Sustainability-related research & activities:
From the very beginning, the company with the engineering works for the EUROFUSIÓN and actually with the manufacturing of the central solenoid for the Princeton Fusion Experiment, tries to find the way to generate electricity with the commercial fusion reactors. Other sustainability related research path was started with the Permanent Magnet Quadrupoles (PMQ) project with CERN, for focusing the beam in the drift tube, following with PMQ projects for BRAC (Indian accelerator) and the European Spallation Source (ESS).

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie

BESSY II light source in the technology park Berlin-Adlershof (Image: HZB/Dirk Laubner)

Find out more about HZB: helmholtz-berlin.de

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) strives to achieve a climate neutral society through science and innovation. This is why we drive materials discovery, create new sustainable technologies and empower the research community in realizing this goal.

BESSY II light source – an internationally leading 3rd generation synchrotron radiation facility playing to its strengths in the soft X-ray regime – is pivotal for the realisation for this endeavour. BESSY II is the European radiation standard and is used for metrology purposes by Germany´s National Metrology Institute (PTB).

Sustainability-related research & activities: In pursuing our mission, we are committed to our social and environmental responsibility in our research and in our daily work. We take responsibility, especially for our greenhouse gas emissions. We have set ourselves the goal of becoming greenhouse gas neutral by 2035. HZB is the first centre in the Helmholtz Association to have a verified greenhouse gas balance according to the Green House Gas Protocol. Many measures for improving the ecological footprint have already been implemented (e.g. electricity supply fully based on renewables since January 2020); the balance now provides the basis for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions further. Furthermore, within the planning BESSY II’s successor facility, BESSY III, envisaged to be operational from 2035 on, all aspects of sustainability for building construction, research infrastructures, computing and data analysis as well as operation will be addressed and are of utmost importance.

Contribution to the project:
HZB mainly contributes to the RF2.0 project with the development (together with partners) of two demonstrators for new highly energy-efficient accelerator components: 1) a proof-of-concept for an adjustable quadrupole magnet based on permanent magnets, and 2) a 500 MHz Solid-state amplifier (SSA) equipped with an adaptive and measurement-driven control of amplifier compression points that allows the amplifier to run at the highest possible efficiency at varying load levels.

MAX IV

Aerial view of the MAX IV facility in Lund, Sweden

Find out more about MAX IV: maxiv.lu.se/

MAX IV Laboratory, hosted by Lund University, is the Swedish national synchrotron radiation facility. It built and now operates the first fourth-generation storage ring in the world.

The facility was inaugurated in June 2016 and offers today a portfolio of 16 beamlines. Each beamline offers a specific technique for the characterisation of matter using high-brightness X-rays as a probe.

Contribution to the project: MAX IV will design, build and characterize a prototype magnet system based on permanent-magnet technology that could replace the existing electromagnetic bending magnets in the MAX IV 3 GeV ring. The successful demonstration of this technology will pave the way to significant savings in the electricity consumption at MAX IV.

Sustainability-related research & activities:
MAX IV Laboratory has since its design aimed at energy efficiency and sustainability, for example with the small aperture magnets characteristic of the first fourth-generation light source worldwide. In fact, our 3 GeV ring consumes about one order of magnitude less energy per unit length compared to the previous MAX II storage ring. Moreover, the MAX IV building infrastructure was designed with energy efficiency in mind. Heat generated from operation of accelerator equipment is recycled and sent back to the district heating system in Lund while getting cooling water for the accelerator equipment in return, reducing operation costs as well the facility’s carbon footprint.

Zaphiro Technologies SA

EPFL Innovation Park – Zaphiro Technologies in Lausanne, Switzerland

Find out more about Zaphiro: zaphiro.ch/

Zaphiro Technologies is a leading Swiss cleantech startup that develops an innovative smart grid solution that helps electrical utilities integrate more clean energy technologies in the electricity grids, while maintaining high quality of service for their customers and optimizing system costs.

Zaphiro was founded in 2017 as a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), and counts several well-known power utility customers in Europe, North America, Middle East, and Asia.

Sustainability-related research & activities:
Zaphiro offers to power utility companies the first distribution grid monitoring and automation system using high-speed and time-synchronized data, called synchro phasors, generated by devices called Phasor Measurement Units. This system provides to utility operators real-time visibility of grid conditions, safe integration of green energy sources, and rapid response to electrical faults and blackout prevention.

Contribution to the project:  Zaphiro will provide CERN with an advanced real-time grid monitoring system utilizing Phasor Measurement Unit technology. This system will collect crucial electrical data on voltage and current throughout the network, enhancing CERN’s situational awareness and aiding in the development of energy-saving strategies for future particle accelerator designs.