Vega, the EuroHPC JU petascale supercomputer located in Slovenia, is now running its first industrial project.
In partnership with ENCCS, the Swedish National Competence Center, NorthVolt is a world-leader in the field of battery production and development. It is investigating the use of classical and reactive molecular dynamics and quantum chemical simulations to devise bottom-up design strategies for improved batteries.
This is an area of intense research, which requires close to two million core hours in supercomputing power, in order to perform much larger and more realistic simulations of the electrochemistry relevant for battery development than would be possible on a conventional computer.
If successful, this project will have significant societal impact: it will improve electric mobility which has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions in the road transportation sector.
Anders Dam Jensen, the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) Executive Director, said:
“The first project to run on a EuroHPC JU supercomputer is working to solve one of the most urgent issues we have ever faced: reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector. We are proud to host NorthVolt on EuroHPC JU supercomputer Vega and we are looking forward to welcoming more ground-breaking projects across Europe.
“While supercomputers can sometimes seem like they belong in a science-fiction film, their uses and applications can have a direct impact on all our lives: climate change, personalised medicine, artificial intelligence, and many other real-life issues. This is what it’s all about at the EuroHPC JU: harnessing the power of High Performance Computing to improve the lives of European citizens.
“This innovative Swedish project will run on a EuroHPC JU supercomputer located in Slovenia, a testament to the interconnectivity of European research and innovation. This is just the start of a new era of European scientific cooperation, with partners across borders using EuroHPC supercomputing to answer the great questions of our time.”
Background
NorthVolt were awarded access time to EuroHPC JU supercomputer Vega, following an ongoing call jointly organised by EuroHPC JU and PRACE.
The procurement contract of Vega was signed on 1 October 2020 by the EuroHPC JU, the Slovenian IZUM, the hosting entity. The company Atos was selected as vendor following a call for tender launched in April 2020. On 10 March 2021, the machine was delivered and started the benchmarking phase.
Four other petascale supercomputers have been procured under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking:
- Meluxina, Luxembourg
- Discoverer, Bulgaria
- Karolina, Czech Republic
- Deucalion, Portugal
Furthermore, two EuroHPC pre-exascale supercomputers have been procured and will complement the petascale machines:
More information
- Press release Northvolt to Be the First Industrial Actor to Access a EuroHPC System
- Press release Vega online: the EU first EuroHPC supercomputer is operational
- Technical specifications of the new system in this dedicated section of our website.
- Details on the Access opportunities available on dedicated PRACE website.
Details
- Publication date
- 28 May 2021
- Author
- European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking