Grid resilience solutions for secure and smart grid-ready power systems
Electricity grids are undergoing a profound transformation.
Rising electrification, accelerating renewable deployment, digitalization, climate‑driven stresses, and evolving regulatory requirements are fundamentally reshaping operational conditions. These pressures are occurring while much of today’s network infrastructure was designed for the one‑directional, predictable power flows of the past century. As system inertia declines and operational complexity increases, grid resilience has emerged as a strategic necessity for TSOs, DSOs, policymakers, utilities, and investors.
The next wave of power: Grid forming solutions
Why does grid resilience matter?
The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that global grids are not keeping pace with the energy transition, noting that more than 3,000 GW of renewable projects are waiting in grid‑connection queues and that up to 80 million kilometers of additional or refurbished grid infrastructure will be required by 2040 to meet global climate goals.
Strengthening resilience is critical to:
- Maintaining system stability in low‑inertia, inverter‑dominated grids
- Preventing large‑scale outages or cascading failures
- Enabling electrification of transport, industry, and heating
- Ensuring secure, timely connection of new renewable and storage assets
- Protecting long‑term value in grid and generation investments
What is grid resilience?
Grid resilience is the ability of a power system to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and rapidly recover from disruptive events, including extreme weather, equipment failures, cyber threats, and disturbances caused by high shares of renewable generation. Unlike traditional reliability, which focuses on minimizing outages in normal conditions, resilience ensures the system can maintain stable performance and restore functionality rapidly under stress.
A resilient grid:
- Maintains frequency and voltage stability under disturbances
- Supports secure operation with high renewable penetration
- Adapts to rapid changes in generation and demand
- Recovers quickly from faults, weather events, or equipment failures
Free whitepaper - The next wave of power: Grid forming solutions
Our whitepaper explores why grid-following inverters are no longer enough, how grid forming converters unlock synthetic inertia, fast frequency response and black start capability, what new regulatory mandates mean for renewable integration across HVDC, BESS and FACTS, and how energy storage and ancillary services can open valuable new revenue streams for early movers.
Pressures reshaping modern power systems
Declining system inertia
The retirement of synchronous fossil‑based generators reduces natural inertia, making frequency more sensitive to disturbances and requiring advanced stabilizing technologies such as grid‑forming inverters and synthetic inertia solutions. There's a need for new operational and regulatory frameworks to ensure stability in rapidly decarbonizing grids
Increasing variability from renewables
High shares of wind and solar create faster and less predictable fluctuations in supply. Maintaining system balance requires enhanced forecasting, expanded flexible resources, and greater grid‑hosting capacity. Grid bottlenecks remain one of the biggest constraints to further renewable integration.
Electrification‑driven load growth
Global power demand is expected to grow driven by electrification of transport, heating, and industry, as well as cooling demand in a warming climate. This growth is outpacing grid expansion in many regions, increasing the risk of congestion and stressing distribution and transmission networks.
Aging infrastructure
Many grid assets are reaching end‑of‑life. Outdated infrastructure is already restricting grid flexibility and slowing renewable deployment. Without accelerated modernization, grids risk becoming a structural bottleneck to clean energy transitions
Extreme weather and climate risk
Climate‑driven events such as heatwaves, storms, floods, and wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity, raising the likelihood of component failures, outages, and system instability. Climate‑resilient planning and adaptation measures are essential components of future grid strategies.
Growing cyber‑security threats
Digitalization creates new vulnerabilities as more operational technologies become network‑connected. Strengthening cyber‑security, improving system redundancy, and ensuring secure communication channels are now fundamental to resilience planning.
Transmission bottlenecks and congestion
The IEA reports that over 2,500 GW of generation and storage projects are stuck in global grid‑connection queues, one of the most significant barriers to scaling renewables and accommodating growing electricity demand. Improved grid planning, permitting reform, and faster reinforcement are required to address these bottlenecks.
Accelerating regulatory demands
Regulatory expectations are evolving, with authorities increasingly requiring long‑term resilience planning supported by climate‑stress analysis, the integration of grid‑forming capabilities to stabilize low‑inertia systems, the development of enhanced flexibility markets to manage renewable variability, and more coordinated planning frameworks between TSOs and DSOs to ensure efficient, system‑wide resilience.
Key technologies strengthening grid resilience
- Battery energy storage systems (BESS)
- High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC)
- Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS)
Battery energy storage systems (BESS)
Battery energy storage systems have become a cornerstone of modern grid resilience, offering fast, flexible support that helps stabilize power systems under increasingly dynamic conditions. As renewable generation grows, the grid requires technologies that can respond instantly to fluctuations, and BESS provides precisely this capability by delivering frequency support, fast‑acting reserves, and system balancing in real time.
AFRY supports clients throughout the entire lifecycle of a BESS project, beginning with the earliest system studies and market assessments and continuing through technical design, grid integration, owner’s engineering, and performance optimization.
With experience from more than 400 projects across 40 countries, our teams help develop storage solutions that are not only technically robust and financially sound but also scalable and future‑ready, enabling operators to secure system stability while unlocking new sources of flexibility revenue.
High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) advisory and engineering services
High‑voltage direct current transmission plays a pivotal role in strengthening power system resilience, particularly as grids become more interconnected and renewable energy sources expand across long distances. HVDC technology enables efficient power transfer between regions, supports offshore wind integration, and enhances cross‑border interconnections — all critical elements for a stable and adaptable grid.
AFRY’s HVDC advisory and engineering services span concept development, feasibility studies, system impact assessments, and detailed engineering support. With more than 50 years of experience in HVDC development, we help clients evaluate technical design options, navigate complex system interactions, and deliver reliable, long‑distance transmission solutions that reinforce grid security and support the energy transition.
Our work ensures that HVDC systems are designed to withstand operational stresses, respond effectively during system disturbances, and provide long‑term value to both operators and end users.
Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS)
Flexible AC Transmission Systems contribute significantly to grid resilience by improving stability, increasing transfer capacity, and enhancing overall power quality without the need for extensive new infrastructure. FACTS devices allow operators to manage voltage levels, control power flows, and mitigate congestion in real time, enabling the grid to absorb new renewable connections while maintaining secure operating margins.
AFRY delivers end‑to‑end FACTS project support, from feasibility studies and system analysis to design, implementation, and operational optimization. Our expertise helps clients strengthen existing transmission corridors, maximize the value of their current assets, and ensure that system performance remains stable even under demanding or rapidly changing conditions.
By combining advanced engineering insights with practical field experience, we help utilities and system operators deploy FACTS solutions that enhance both short‑term reliability and long‑term resilience across the power network.
The New Pulse of Power: Grid-Forming Tech & Demand Integration
Watch our recent webinar to dive into the evolving grid code requirements, the integration of large-scale loads and the strategic implications for system operators and regulators. Whether you're shaping policy, designing infrastructure, or driving innovation, watching this webinar will spark ideas and offer insights into the next wave of grid transformation.
Our core expertise in supporting grid resilience
AFRY delivers full-lifecycle support, combining strategic advisory with deep engineering expertise to help clients assess risks, design robust systems and build future-ready power infrastructure.
Diagnostics & Maturity Assessment
- Forward-looking market analysis
- Resilience maturity assessment & gap analysis
- System studies & stress testing
- Resilience KPI framework
Planning & Design for Resilience
- Resilience-focused grid planning
- Permitting & stakeholder engagement
- Business & market design
- Digital resilience architecture
- Techno-economic analysis & concept selection (feasibility/pre-feasibility)
- Hybrid optimization & BESS sizing
- Design vetting
- Organizational & digital transformation
Implementation: Hardware, Software & Processes
- Grid hardening
- Advanced power electronics & control
- Automation & protection
- Cybersecurity for power grids
- Construction & project management (EPCM/EPC)
Operations, Monitoring & Prediction
- Operational control & situational awareness
- Condition-based maintenance
- Resilience dashboards & reporting
Recovery & Adaptive Improvement
- Emergency & restoration plans
- Post-event analysis & “build back better”
- Exercises & war games
Governance, Financing & Portfolio Management
- Strategic advice
- M&A and transaction services
- Resilience governance & PMO
- Program & portfolio management
- Funding & regulatory support
- Offtake/PPA advisory
- Collaborative contracting: technical negotiations with EPCs and OEMs
Selected projects
Paistinkulma BESS – Finland
Owner’s engineering services for Finland’s largest BESS (30 MW / 36 MWh). Operational since 2024, the system supports grid stability via Fingrid’s reserve market and is designed for future capacity expansion. AFRY ensured smooth execution and scalability through project management, supervision, and safety coordination.
Electricity grid upgrade – Norway
Framework agreement with Fagne to modernize regional electricity infrastructure. By combining strategic advisory with technical solutions, we support increased capacity and long-term grid development.
Isbillen Power Reserve – Sweden
Owner’s engineer for Sweden’s largest BESS (93.9 MW / 93.9 MWh). Services included project management, technical design reviews, and quality assurance to ensure reliable system performance.
National grid integration – Sri Lanka
Technical and economic feasibility studies for large-scale solar and wind integration. The project includes system simulations for 2030, analysis of non-synchronous penetration limits, and recommendations for BESS and FACTS, alongside knowledge transfer and training.
Strengthening Sweden’s transmission system
Through framework agreements with Svenska Kraftnät, we are providing technical consulting, system analysis, design, and project delivery for overhead lines, cables, and substations.
Strengthening power system reliability - Norway
AFRY will act as the client representative and project management partner in the execution of a new transformer substation at Onarheim in Western Norway. The assignment involves leading a major infrastructure project aimed at strengthening power system reliability, enabling electrification and industrial development.
Why AFRY?
Frequently asked questions
- How does AFRY help TSOs and DSOs strengthen grid resilience?
- What are the biggest risks facing modern power systems?
- How can flexibility reduce the need for grid reinforcement?
- What modeling tools are used for resilience assessments?
- How does battery energy storage improve grid resilience?
- Why is HVDC important for resilient power systems?
- What role do FACTS devices play in grid resilience?
- How do extreme weather events affect grid stability?
We support the full journey, from identifying system vulnerabilities and performing advanced system studies to designing and implementing solutions such as BESS, HVDC, FACTS, and smart grid technologies.
Key risks include climate-driven extreme weather, cyber security threats, reduced inertia, and instability caused by rapid integration of variable renewable energy without sufficient flexibility.
Flexibility resources such as battery storage and demand response help balance supply and demand, reduce peak loads, and defer or avoid costly physical grid upgrades.
We use advanced power system simulation and modelling tools to stress-test grids under different scenarios and identify the most effective resilience measures.
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) support resilience by providing fast frequency response (FFR) and synthetic inertia, peak shaving and load shifting, voltage support and congestion management, black‑start capabilities, and reserve power and balancing services. Their speed and flexibility make BESS one of the most effective, scalable resilience technologies.
HVDC systems enhance resilience by enabling long‑distance transmission with minimal losses, cross‑border interconnections for security of supply, stable integration of large renewable assets, power‑flow controllability during disturbances, and improved system damping and dynamic stability. They act as controllable “backbones,” especially in systems transitioning to high renewable shares.
Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) improve resilience by managing power flows. enhancing voltage stability, increasing transfer capacity of existing lines, mitigating oscillations and disturbances. They allow operators to extract more performance from existing infrastructure without extensive reinforcement.
Extreme weather—storms, heatwaves, wildfires, flooding—can cause line faults and equipment damage, voltage instability, local or wide‑area blackouts, congestion and overloads, and reduced generation availability. As climate risks increase, resilience planning becomes a core requirement for TSOs and DSOs.
