Future smart grids require the effective interaction between energy markets and electricity grid management systems in order to introduce new services and mitigate risks introduced by high RES penetration. FLEXGRID envisages the orchestration and integration of: i) advanced electricity grid models and tools, ii) flexibility assets’ management tools, and iii) data analytics and accurate forecasts of the various markets and RES production, in order to guarantee cost-effective and stable electricity grids. Towards this end, FLEXGRID project proposes a holistic future smart grid architecture able to accommodate high RES penetration through the advancement, interaction and integration of: i) innovative models that are based on recent advances in game theory in order to quantify and highly improve the trade-off between the various future energy markets’ requirements (Real Time, Efficient, Strategy Proof, Competitive, Scalable, Fair and Privacy Protecting) and guarantee, theoretically and in practice, the “fairness” of the equilibrium points that energy markets reach, ii) grid system models that use optimization theory to achieve more efficient market clearing and Optimal Power Flow (OPF) algorithms to achieve scalability, in a way that must also be Low Overhead, Multi-period, Robust and Network Upgrade Planning Aware, and iii) innovative Business Models through the use of artificial intelligence, which can be exploited by modern Energy Service Providers (ESPs) and RES Producers (RESPs) to achieve economic and operational benefits through their efficient interaction with FLEXGRID’s advanced markets and electricity grid models. FLEXGRID will help: i) DSOs/TSOs manage safely and at low cost their electricity grid by interacting with ESPs and RESPs through novel flexibility market procedures, ii) modern ESPs become more competitive and sustainable,and iii) RESPs optimally compose and exploit their production in a risk-averse manner by making their RES generation dispatchable.

The present context shows the potential of electricity grids to lead the energy system transition as long as new solutions deal with the challenges related to flexibility solutions, grid observability and controllability, market mechanisms and interoperability in a holistic way. The new solutions need to cover the technological aspects by linking smart and integrated services and tools for distribution grid with market mechanisms. This architecture will guarantee a significant impact on the environment and society. The project consortium accepted this challenge and will develop “EUniversal Project” which will enable the transformation of the electricity grid by resolving existing limitations in the energy system through the introduction of a Universal Market Enabling Interface (UMEI). Through this concept, grids will become capable of accommodating all future scenarios through the active use of grid services, acting as an extensive toolbox of flexibility solutions and innovate market mechanisms. The primary goal of EUniversal is to enable the transformation of the energy system into a new multi-energy and multi-consumer concept guaranteeing a sustainable, secure and stable manner of electricity supply by bringing forward an universal, adaptable and modular approach through a Universal Market Enabling Interface (UMEI) to interlink active system management with electricity markets and the provision of flexibility services, taking also into consideration the activation needs and the coordination requirements with both commercial parties and TSOs. To do so, EUniversal will define, develop and validate a set of market-oriented flexibility management services from DER in a real environment, under a large RES integration and high electrification scenario. In order to demonstrate the services generated in the development phase of the project, 3 different DEMO sites (located in Portugal (PT), Germany (DE) and Poland (PL)) will be run to validate the project solutions.

OPENTUNITY’s mission is to create a flexibility ecosystem reducing interoperability barriers and favouring the use of standards in order to decarbonize EU grids and put the end-user in the spotlight. Grid operators, prosumers, market actors etc. will be supported by OPENTUNITY via innovative methodologies backed by advanced, interoperable software modules, in order to provide them with new features and services related to: 1) Technologies to boost flexibility in prosumer’s environment; 2) Technologies for grid operators to better manage grid operations). OPENTUNITY will also evolve, adapt and integrate a Federated Data Space infrastructure in which actors from different fields will share services and find synergies among them in order to create a reliable energy system in which different verticals (electromobility, gas, OEM etc.) will be able to seamlessly collaborate with each other. OPENTUNITY will be demonstrated in 4 different countries (Greece, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland), benefitting 26.852 citizens and reducing 91,22 MtCO2eq GHG emissions and energy poverty by 30% by 2032.

Local Energy communities (LEC) have been recognized by EC as key measure to boost EU energy transition. At the same time digitalization of EU energy system and a proper data sharing among energy players look crucial to foster best practice sharing and the creation of a knowledge community to tackle one of the most urgent global crisis of our society: climate change. DATA CELLAR aims therefore to create a public energy dataspace that will support the creation, development and management of LECs in EU. Such dataspace will be easy to be populated (also via an innovative rewarded private metering approach) and easy to interact with, also guaranteeing a smooth integration with other EU energy dataspaces and providing to LEC stakeholders services and tools for developing their activities. DATA CELLAR will implement a collaborative platform providing an interoperable, modular, and secure energy data space capable of delivering access to datasets, Decision Support Tool and Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to serve and support the spread LECs. In the framework of the project DATA CELLAR and its services will be used by representatives of nine validation cases around EU and with different level of maturity promoted by different type of actors such as public authorities, DSOs, aggregators etc.. DATA CELLAR will also used to drive transversal activities such as EU energy scenarios and market planning (EDF, NODES). DATA CELLAR will facilitate data collection/sharing from both LEC stakeholders, researchers and tenants also targeting the development of a marketplace and a tokenization rewarding approach that can stimulate such actors to both use and populate the data space. At this purpose and also considering data interaction with the other EU existing energy dataspaces/initiatives (GAIA-X, OPEN DEI…) towards the creation of a federated EU Energy Data Space, DATA CELLAR will also study ethical, regulatory, cybersecurity and governance aspects for data handling/sharing.