In the electricity sector, research on production, conversion, storage, and end-use technologies is covered by various specific Energy Research Programs of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). The challenge in the grids sector consists of integrating the various individual components to form an efficient overall system being interoperable, safe and reliable.
The overarching aim of the Research Program Grids is to support projects addressing novel concepts and technologies for planning, operating and maintaining electrical grids and systems. Interfaces to other energy carriers may also be considered. The current focus areas of the Research Program Grids are defined by the Energy Research Masterplan 2017–2020 of SFOE (page 21).