The increased shares of renewable energy, combined with the rise in distributed generation are profoundly impacting electricity markets and the demand for system flexibility and business models of traditional utilities and distribution companies. This requires a rethinking of the way power sector markets are designed and operated as well as a timely and efficient adaptation of traditional market and operational mechanisms. The recent created clean energy legislation requires that Electricity Markets are created with “active customers/consumers and citizens” and “energy communities”. This new legislation asks for enhanced roles of DSOs and TSOs, particularly for a better coordination among stakeholders, procurement of ancillary services, flexibility, data management and integration of Electric Vehicles and must adapt network access and congestion tariffs & charges (flexibility). Markets must encourage the development of more flexible generation and demand and the elimination of obstacles to market-based pricing, remove regulatory distortions, enable scarcity pricing, interconnection, Demand Side Response and storage. Final customers must be enabled to buy electricity generation from aggregated, multiple power-generating facilities or load from multiple demand response facilities to provide joint offers on the electricity market and be jointly operated in the electricity system. Citizens must be offered competitive prices. BeFlexible aims at increasing energy system flexibility, enhancing cooperation among DSOs and TSOs and easing participation of all energy-related actors through the validation and large-scale demonstration of adapted and proven cross-sectoral services, interoperable platforms for smart grids operation developing further already demonstrated solutions and the creation of required system architecture framework to enable the creation of new business models providing additional value to meet consumers’ needs in compliance with a stable regulatory framework.

SENERGY NETS aims at demonstrating the technical and economic capability of multi-energy systems to decarbonize the heating and cooling, power and gas sectors through renewable energy sources produced locally as well as sector integration, by primarily focusing on promising infrastructure and business models. To do so, SENERGY-NETS will develop a set of tools and platforms (up to TRL7/8) aimed to optimise the planning of District Heating and Cooling as well as distribution grids with sector coupling consideration and allow the provision of flexibility services to Distribution and Transmission System Operators. These solutions will be implemented on three pilot sites located in Milan (IT), Ljubljana (SI) and Paris (FR) and their replicability will be tested in two additional real case studies presenting alternative climatic, economic and geographic conditions in Vsters (SW) and Cordoba (ES). The SENERGY NETS solutions will be adapted to the main stakeholders at the different phases of the projects development involving sector coupling: long term planning, design and simulation, operational planning, valorisation, evaluation and replication. The project will evaluate the benefits through a consolidated methodology developed to estimate the overall value created by sector integration, relying on the current economic, regulation and market rules and assess the impacts on the European power system. SENERGY NETS relies on a strong trans-disciplinary consortium involving 17 organisations located in 7 European countries, involving renowned experts from public authorities, infrastructure providers, research institutions, entrepreneurs and consumers associations. Altogether, they will provide the necessary knowledge, expertise and capacities to develop, demonstrate and evaluate developed tools and services enabling the integration of multi-energy systems to provide flexibility to the power system, and ultimately enable the decarbonisation of the energy system.

Superconducting medium-voltage cables, based on HTS and MgB2 materials, have the potential to become the preferred solution for energy transmission from many renewable energy sites to the electricity grid. Onshore HTS cables provide a compact design, which preserves the environment in protected areas and minimizes land use in urban areas where space is limited. Offshore HTS cables compete on cost and – compared to conventional HVDC cables – have the clear benefit of eliminating the need for large and costly converter stations on the offshore platforms. MgB2 cables in combination with safe liquid hydrogen transport directly from renewable energy generation sites to e.g., ports and heavy industries, introduce a new paradigm of two energy vectors used simultaneously in the future. Both HTS, cooled with liquid nitrogen, and MgB2, cooled with liquid hydrogen, MVDC superconducting cables will be designed, manufactured, and tested, including a six-month test for the MgB2 cable. For grid protection, a high-current superconducting fault current limiter module will be designed and tested. Furthermore, the technology developments will be supported by techno-economic analyses, and a study of elpipes, large cross-section conductors for high-power transfer, will be performed. The superconductor technology developments will accelerate the energy transition towards a low-carbon society by the direct key impacts of the project: • 30% LCOE reduction for offshore windfarm export cables • 15% reduction in total cost of entire offshore windfarms • Possibility to transfer 0.5 GW in the form of H2 and 1 GW electric energy in one combined system • Installation of cables for 90 GW transmission capacity by the consortium partners by 2050 • Creation of 5 000 European jobs within the field of sustainable energy