The technological innovations resulting from IMDEA Energía’s research work were presented at the Transfiere 2025 Forum held in Malaga from 12 to 14 March.

The Institute participated, together with other actors of the Madrid innovation ecosystem, in the pavilion of the Community of Madrid and the Madri+d Foundation for Knowledge, where it was visited by the Director General for Research and Innovation accompanied by part of her team, as well as in the pavilion of the State Research Agency, AEI, together with the rest of the centres of the SOMMa Alliance that hold the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu accreditations of excellence.

Felix Marin, Head of Technology Transfer at IMDEA Energy, attended the Forum, experts from entities of various sectors and sizes, from small technology-based companies to large corporations, who had the opportunity to learn about the new technologies developed and hold meetings to discuss the possibilities of transferring those that aroused their interest to bring to market and expand the field of activity of their companies or improve their processes.

The Forum also enabled the sharing of new developments, synergies and challenges with the technology platforms and other associations of which Institute IMDEA Energy is a member, as well as with the universities and companies in the collaboration network and other actors linked to technology transfer such as investors, patent agents and consultants. The meeting favours the exchange of knowledge between science and innovation as it brings together more than 400 experts and 600 companies.

Students of the Master in Renewable Energy and Energy Market (MERME) of the School of Industrial Organization visited IMDEA Energía’s facilities on March 13th, 2025. During the visit Manuel Romero, researcher at the High Temperature Processes Unit, had the opportunity to present them the R&D facilities of the Instute and research lines on the production of hydrogen and sustainable fuels. In particular, details were provided about the PROMETEO project on hydrogen production with SOE technology integrating solar steam, funded by the FCH2 JU of the European Union and Sun to Liquid II project on the production of liquid aviation fuels with concentrated solar energy, funded by the Horizon Europe program.

IMDEA Energy is coordinating the research project “HVDC4ISLANDS,” that aims to address key technological challenges in the future electrical grids: developing high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and hybrid alternating current / direct current (AC/DC) technologies to integrate offshore wind energy and other forms of renewable energy.

In this context, HVDC4ISLANDS will develop control and management systems for “energy islands,” renewable energy hubs designed to accelerate the transition to clean energy. The project aims to identify tools for advanced operation, reconfiguration, and scalability of these systems while ensuring their stability, protection, and interoperability.

The solutions developed in the project will inherently lead to reduced maintenance and operational costs, improved system monitoring and diagnostics, and a lower environmental impact from transmission networks.

Among the expected outcomes are validated solutions for the control, operation, and protection of DC and hybrid networks, the promotion of European leadership in technologies and solutions related to their operation and control and enabling the concept of energy islands both onshore and offshore. These islands are intended to optimize the integration of renewable energy sources into a multi-vector energy system.

The transnational collaboration in HVDC4ISLANDS will help develop case studies for potential future energy island projects in the North Sea, the North Atlantic, and the Baltic Sea. The unlocked potential of HVDC4ISLANDS will accelerate the deployment of renewable energies on land and at sea, providing new and flexible options for grid interconnection and alternative market routes through energy storage, energy conversion and new energy services.

The project “HVDC4ISLANDS – HVDC and Hybrid DC/AC Technologies for Reconfigurable Energy Islands” (CETP-2023-00045) began in December 2024 and will last for 36 months. Its funding comes from the European CETPartnership (Clean Energy Transition Partnership) 2023 Joint Call and involves renewable energy companies and leading European research institutions. Participants include IMDEA Energy (Spain), RWTH Aachen (Germany), the ICCS Institute of the National Technical University of Athens (Greece), the Austrian Institute of Technology AIT and Fronius (Austria), the MaREI institute of University College Cork (Ireland), and SUBSEA7, HYSTAR, and SINTEF Energy (Norway).