The project SmartNet aims at providing architectures for optimized interaction between TSOs and DSOs in managing the exchange of information for monitoring and for the acquisition of ancillary services (reserve and balancing, voltage regulation, congestion management) both at national level and in a cross-border context. Local needs for ancillary services in distribution systems are supposed to co-exist with system needs for balancing and congestion management. Resources located in distribution systems, like demand side management and distributed generation, are supposed to participate to the provision of ancillary services both locally and for the system in the context of competitive ancillary services markets. Through an in-depth and a simulation in a lab-environment, answers are sought for to the following questions: • which ancillary services could be provided from distribution to the whole system (via transmission), • which optimized modalities could be adopted for managing the network at the TSO-DSO interface and what monitoring and control signals could be exchanged to carry out a coordinated action, • how the architectures of the real time markets (in particular the balancing markets) could be consequently revised, • what information has to be exchanged and how (ICT) for the coordination on the distribution-transmission border, starting from monitoring aspects, to guarantee observability and control of distributed generation, flexible demand and storage systems, • which implications could the above issues have on the on-going market coupling process, that is going to be extended to real time markets in the next years, according to the draft Network Code on Electricity Balancing by ENTSO-E. Different TSO-DSO interaction modalities are compared with reference to three selected national cases (Italian, Danish, Spanish) also supposing the possibility of a cross-border exchange of balancing services. Physical pilots are developed for the same national cases.

The expected increasing share of variable RES is challenging the electric grid in terms of reliability, stability and security of supply. Indeed, the European renewable target for 2030 (32% of total energy consumed) means that more than 50% of electricity will be generated from RES, most of which will be connected to the MV and LV grids. As an answer to these present and incoming challenges, FLEXIGRID project proposes to improve the distribution grid operation making it more flexible, reliable and cost-efficient, through the development of 4 HW and 4 SW solutions. Furthermore, a single open source platform will integrate the different solutions making them interoperable with the IT systems used by the energy stakeholders, increasing its replication potential. With the aim of increasing the project’s replication potential, 8 use cases have been identified to address EU most common distribution grid problems. These use cases are represented by 4 complementary demo-sites ready to upgrade FLEXIGRID solutions towards TRL8: a rural and peri-urban network in Spain with a RES share of 39%; a resort in the Greek Island of Thasos able to integrate 10% of RES; an urban grid in the city of Zagreb with congested areas, and an isolated valley in the South-Tyrol region of Italy with more than 50% of hydroelectric energy. To reach the project objectives, the consortium counts with partners representing all the energy system value-chain. In this sense, 2 RTOs and 2 Universities will work together with 5 technology providers to develop the project solutions and deploy them in the four demo-sites, represented by 3 DSOs and 2 large companies. Finally, 2 associations will ensure the exploitation and dissemination of the project results along the EU energy community. Finally, FLEXIGRID will support the ‘Clean Energy for All’ Europeans package while actively cooperating with BRIDGE initiative thanks to the presence of the consortium in 10 of its projects