Since 2009, the ESRF has embarked on an upgrade programme of its infrastructure, beamlines and accelerators. The second phase (2015-2022), saw the design and the installation of a new storage ring based on a hybrid multi-bend achromat (HMBA) replacing the double-bend lattice. Reducing the horizontal emittance from 4 nm rad down to 133 pm rad allows a dramatic increase in brilliance and coherence.

In December 2018, after 30 years of operation, the beam stopped for a 12-month shutdown to dismantle the old storage ring and to install the new X-ray source. In December 2019, first beam was stored and accumulated in the storage ring. Beam was delivered to beamlines in March 2020 for their commissioning. On 25 August, the user programme was restarted with beam parameters very close to nominal values. Since then the facility is back to standard operation with excellent performance.

This seminar will overview the EBS project implementation, highlighting the preparatory work (including some development of phase 1), the installation, commissioning and return to operation. At the end, some lessons learned from this project will be discussed.