The member states of the European Union (EU) have committed themselves to a reduction of their energy consumption by 20–40 percent compared to 1990 levels. There are several drivers behind the decision, such as saving of non-renewable resources, a threat of climate change, and significant reduction in oil dependency. A significant and constantly increasing proportion of the primary energy consumed is allocated to generation, distribution and end use of electric energy. For example, in 2005, the amount of consumed electric energy in the EU-27 was 2020 TWh (source: EN18 Electricity Consumption, European Environment Agency).
Electric motor drives account for approximately 55 percent of all electric consumption, and are thus the most significant consumers of electric energy. Heating and lighting applications are the second and third big consumers. In all these fields, new power electronic solutions as crucial enablers for energy efficiency provide new innovation opportunities in energy efficiency technologies.
Finland has a strong, globally operating power electronics industry, and our Research Unit has an important role in the development of Finland’s power electronics industry. In the research activities of the Research Unit, the most significant applications for power electronics are industrial drives, distributed electricity generation, smart grids, transportation, and to some degree, domestic applications. In all these, the function of the power electronics is to convert electric energy efficiently and smartly into a form that is required by the user or application, and to control the power flow. Owing to the interdisciplinary nature of the technology, power electronics is used everywhere, for example in industrial processes, cars, trains, computers, lighting, domestic appliances, and the like. In this context, we call power electronics ‘modern ubiquitous technology’. The number of its applications is continuously increasing. Our Research Unit contributes to enhancing energy efficiency and reducing production costs by accurately controlling the electric power flow applying intelligent power electronic control and by replacing mechanical or hydraulic systems with electrical drives utilizing digital control algorithms.