CROSSBOW will propose the shared use of resources to foster cross-border management of variable renewable energies and storage units, enabling a higher penetration of clean energies whilst reducing network operational costs and improving economic benefits of RES and storage units . The objective is to demonstrate a number of different, though complementary, technologies, offering Transmission System Operators higher flexibility and robustness through: 1) A better control of exchange power at interconnection points; 2) new storage solutions – distributed and centralized-, offering ancillary services to operate Virtual Storage Plants (VSP); 3) better ICT and Communications -e.g. better network observability, enabling flexible generation and Demand Response schemas; 4) the definition of a transnational wholesale market, proposing fair and sustainable remuneration for clean energies though the definition of new business models supporting the participation of new players –i.e. aggregators - and the reduction of costs. The CROSSBOW results will be evaluated by 8 TSOs in Easter Europe, grouped to form clusters that will validate each of the projects outcomes in at least three different countries, demonstrating in all cases how CROSSBOW tackles the transnational challenges faced by these TSOs.

The objective of the ATTEST project is to develop and operationalize a modular open source toolbox comprising a suite of innovative tools to support TSOs / DSOs operating, maintaining and planning the energy systems of 2030 and beyond in an optimised and coordinated manner, considering technical, economic and environmental aspects. The consortium, from six EU countries, that has been assembled to deliver ATTEST consists of five highly experienced research organisations in the energy systems area, two utilities that manage and operate the transmission system and the distribution system in Croatia, and two industry partners that specialise in the development of advanced ICT solutions and SCADA systems. The development of this broad spectrum of energy-related ICT tools and the utilization of next generation algorithms, demonstrated in a real world environment has not been attempted before. The outputs from the ATTEST project will enable accelerated dissemination, by a wide range of research institutions, within and outside of the project consortium, of the tools that will help TSOs and DSOs to better manage their networks. The demonstration of the results of the project will be valuable for the scientific community and EU energy industry and attest to the relevance of the solutions developed. The ATTEST’s ambition is to enable a wide range of users to utilize and test the tools developed in the project, thereby contributing to spread knowledge and experience in the energy systems community in the EU and on a global scale. This will contribute significantly to addressing not only the specific challenges of the call and the Horizon 2020 Energy Work Program, but also those of the EU’s Energy Union strategy and the 2020 Climate & Energy package.

To achieve its energy goals EU needs to establish a geographically large market by initially improving its cross-border electricity interconnections. A geographically large market, based on imports and exports of electricity, could increase the level of competition, boost the EU’s security of electricity supply and integrate more renewables into energy markets. Electricity should, as far as possible, flow between Member States as easily as it currently flows within Member States, so as to increase sustainability potential and real competition as well as to drive economic efficiency of the energy system. To this end, FARCROSS aims to address this challenge by connecting major stakeholders of the energy value chain and demonstrating integrated hardware and software solutions that will facilitate the “unlocking” of the resources for the cross-border electricity flows and regional cooperation. The project will promote state-of-the-art technologies to enhance the exploitation/capacity/efficiency of transmission grid assets, either on the generation or the transmission level. The hardware and software solutions will increase grid observability to facilitate system operations at a regional level, exploit the full potential of transmission corridors for increased electricity flows that will facilitate transition to flow-based regional market coupling, consider cross-border connections and their specific ICT and grid infrastructure, planning to use a wide-area protection approach to ensure the safe integration of renewable energy sources into the grid, mitigate disturbances, increase power system stability. An innovative regional forecasting platform will be demonstrated for improved prognosis of renewable generation and demand response and a capacity reserves optimization tool will be tested to maximize cross-border flows. The non-harmonization of national regulation will be studied and measures will be recommended to avoid distortion of the technology benefits.

HEDGE-IoT proposes a novel Digital Framework which aims to deploy IoT assets at different levels of the energy system (from behind-the-meter, up to the TSO level), to add intelligence to the edge and cloud layers through advanced AI/ML tools and to bridge the cloud/edge continuum introducing federated applications governed by advanced computational orchestration solutions. The HEDGE-IoT Framework will upgrade the RES-hosting capacity of the energy systems and will unleash a previously untapped flexibility potential. It will increase the resilience of the grid, create new market opportunities and promote advances in IoT standardization, by introducing and managing a plethora of diversified, interoperable energy services over scalable and highly distributed data platforms and infrastructure. The multi-dimensional framework of HEDGE-IoT comprises the following pillars: (a) the Technology Facilitator Pillar will exploit the computational sharing by offloading applications on the grid edge, towards providing a set AI/ML federated learning and swarm computing applications; (b) the Interoperability Pillar, which leverages on leading-edge interoperable architectures, such as the Data Space architectures; (c) the Standardisation Pillar will enable all involved platforms, systems, tools and actors to seamlessly communicate and exchange data in standardized formats using widely used standards, such as SAREF, etc.; (d) the Digital Energy Ecosystem Enabling Pillar will ensure the creation of an ecosystem facilitating the increased integration of RES and characterised by resilience. Liaisons with EU initiatives for IoT and digitalisation will be established (e.g., the AIOTI) and the engagement of stakeholders will be ensured by addressing IoT ethics and cultivating trust among end-users, thus promoting inclusivity. Scalability and replicability studies will be performed and connections with innovators and SMEs will be established through the Open Call mechanism of the project.