ACE’s Technology Forums serve as a platform to show the latest breakthroughs in the five Key Enabling Technologies identified within the EnergiBasque strategy: Digitalisation, Storage, Circular Economy, Power Electronics and Materials. ACE holds two of these forums every year, where companies and technology centres share with the rest of the value chain the latest technological developments in these fields. Companies interested in the said fields can also network and share knowledge and thoughts on these technologies, and even propose new projects.

This year’s first Technology Forum featured Power Electronics, focusing on two energy sectors that are also in EnergiBasque and for which the implementation of this technology in their systems is vital: electric vehicles and photovoltaic solar power.

To start off the event, IKERLAN put power electronics in context and presented an overview of some of the projects underway in the Basque Country in this field.

The first block was about developments in power electronics applied to the electric mobility sector. MONDRAGON UNIBERTSITATEA, TEKNIKER and TECNALIA presented some of the R&D projects that are being carried out in this field. Companies in the sector were highly interested in these projects and in the technological developments that were identified. Two of these companies also gave presentations as part of the electric vehicle block: JEMA tackled the evolution of power converters for charging systems, and CAF Power & Automation discussed the future of rail traction units, based on SiC.

The second block focused on developments in power electronics applied to the PV sector. In this block, IKERLAN and CEIT presented their R&D projects, which the audience found very interesting. SiC inverters and control strategies for converters were the topics covered in the projects. Two companies talked about the topics from a business point of view: ZIGOR presented its analysis of SiC converters and drivers for PV and storage systems, while INGETEAM reviewed the company’s evolution in the development of power electronics applied to PV inverters.

The audience was very participative and asked questions after each main block. This confirmed the importance of carrying on with the work in these fields within the energy sector.