Meet our partner KONČAR
KONČAR is a Croatian industry flagship: the largest Croatian electric equipment manufacturer, that celebrated its 100th anniversary in early 2021. The CROSSBOW partner is KONČAR – Power Plant and Electric Traction Engineering (KONČAR-KET) which is the main engineering company of the KONČAR Group. KONČAR-KET has more than 40 years of experience in the development and integration of modular industrial automation control systems and is a pioneer in cyber security and in the digitalization of the energy sector. We make the energy sustainable, secure, and digital.
What is your role within the project?
As a technology provider in CROSSBOW, we play an infrastructural role and we are deeply involved in the development of STO-CC tool. For decades we have been a reliable partner of the TSOs in the region, and we know the industrial automation control systems used there. Our expertise in the established protocols and solutions helps us integrate the CROSSBOW tools with the existing infrastructure – we have been responsible for ensuring the integration of data sources and conversion of different asset data into the central format of CROSSBOW tools. These gateways have been implemented using the development version of our automation platform, and there were CROSSBOW-specific developments. One of these includes the gateway developed and installed in the laboratory facilities in SmartRUE laboratory in Athens.
How will CROSSBOW contribute to the Energy Transition in Europe?
The winds that carry the energy transition also carry the requirements for more flexibility and tighter collaboration across borders. Between policy decisions and real-life implementation there is a lot of work to do – and CROSSBOW is a part of it. The tools we develop in CROSSBOW will surely help in making the energy system of Europe more resilient and sustainable.
What are the main challenges KONCAR have found during COVID-19 crisis (within CROSSBOW)?
The COVID crisis has effectively removed all travel and many things are much easier to resolve in a physical meeting, and that is especially notable in CROSSBOW where solutions are often found at these meetings. For us in CROSSBOW a particular challenge has been that we started the deployments and integration actions during the strictest lockdown period. Many of our TSO partners had specific work regimes and we also had to adapt to working fully remotely. In fact, the successful development and deployment of our gateway solution in the SmartRUE laboratory in Greece happened during this time. It is right now being actively used in the CROSSBOW testing.
What other related projects you are involved in?
Besides CROSSBOW, we are also partners in TRINITY and SYNERGY projects that ETRA is also coordinating – these are the most closely related projects to CROSSBOW.
What will be the most important CROSSBOW legacies in the SEE?
The CROSSBOW tools will surely continue to evolve and adapt to the users’ needs even long after CROSSBOW ends. In KONČAR, we hope that the productive and collaborative spirit of CROSSBOW will remain for a long time after the project ends.