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The injection of high energy neutral beams is one of the main tools to heat the DEMO plasma up to fusion conditions. A conceptual design of the neutral beam injector (NBI) for the DEMO fusion reactor is currently being developed by Consorzio RFX in collaboration with other European research institutes. High injector efficiency and RAMI, which are fundamental requirements for the success of DEMO, have been taken into special consideration for the DEMO NBI. A novel design of the beam source for the DEMO NBI is being developed featuring multiple subsources, following a modular design concept, capable of increasing the reliability and availability of the DEMO NBI. A full comprehensive model of the extraction/acceleration system has been developed, able to estimate all the main physics and engineering aspects (beam optics, coextracted and stripped electrons, heating power deposited on the grids, working temperature of the grids, and related stress and deformations) in a self-consistent way. This paper describes the results obtained applying the full comprehensive model to the present design of the extraction/acceleration system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BEST PATHS (acronym for “BEyond State-of-the-art Technologies for rePowering ac corridors and multi-Terminal HVDC Systems”) is a collaborative project of 40 leading European organizations from science and industry, supported by the 7th Research Framework Programme of the European Commission. The project investigates the feasibility of technological innovations that could advance high-capacity transmission links. These innovations include a demonstrator project dedicated to superconducting electric lines, which aims to validate the novel MgB2 technology for GW-level HVDC power transmission. The four-year project will thus demonstrate the operation of a full-scale 320 kV MgB2 monopole cable system that can transfer up to 3.2 GW. This paper focuses on the design and development activities for the 10 kA cable conductor, which were carried out in the first two years of the project. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper shows the technical and economical evaluation of the application of a reconfiguration system for photovoltaic (PV) plants, considering the incentives system in some European Union countries. The reconfiguration system is an alternative to the distributed maximum power point tracking technique which used to increase the power production in the PV plants under the mismatch phenomenon. The reconfiguration techniques employ a microprocessor-based or field-programmable gate array-based system that modifies the layout of the PV plant through the change of the connections among modules. After having presented the main features working of the PV reconfiguration system allowing the improvement of the efficiency of the same plant and the relevant installation, the main strength and weakness points of the investment are evidenced in relation to different incentives policies in some country of UE. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Power electronics is a key technology for the efficient conversion, control, and conditioning of electric energy from the source to the load. In this paper, the potential of power electronics for energy savings in four major application fields, buildings and lighting, power supplies, smart electricity grid, and industrial drives, is investigated. It is shown that by wider adoption of power electronics in these areas, the current European Union electricity consumption could be reduced by 25%. The technology challenges for exploiting this potential for all the four areas are identified in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]