FLEXGRID project investigated several types of constraints, related to the current electricity networks’ and energy markets’ architecture that prevent large scale DER integration in distribution networks (DNs). It developed advanced Digital Energy Services (DES) relevant to the operation of Distribution Level Flexibility Markets (DLFMs), aiming to the efficient management of DNs and the minimization of DN-level flexibility procurement cost. Another issue tackled in FLEXGRID is the inefficient investment planning and management of DER assets. Towards this end, it evolved existing smart grid architectures, which are not able to provide to DER investors’ information related to the electricity grid topology and the market conditions, by addressing these shortcomings. Under this perspective, FLEXGRID exploits: i) topology and monitoring information from the networks that it manages and ii) data analytics from the market that it operates in order to provide DESs useful for the design of optimal DER investment strategies and optimal DER portfolio management.
Beyond these innovations, FLEXGRID dealt with a major inefficiency in today’s smart grids, which is the lack of interaction between TSOs and DSOs. When using flexibility to cope with a given grid operation challenge, this might have an impact on other grid operation aspects. For example, the activation of DN-level flexibility for system balancing by the TSO might cause a local congestion on the distribution grid. Another example is the activation of DN-level flexibility by a DSO to solve a local congestion problem, which may cause higher re-dispatch costs at the transmission network (TN) level.
Following up the most important, up-to-date and relevant recommendations from EU bodies, FLEXGRID introduces a new energy market entity called Flexibility Market Operator (FMO) that operates a novel Distribution Level Flexibility Market (DLFM). Three main ways that this novel DLFM can be integrated in the existing EU regulatory framework are investigated. As a result, three possible DLFM architectures are proposed, namely: i) Reactive DLFM, ii) Proactive DLFM, and iii) Interactive DLFM. Performance evaluation results quantify the “pros & cons” of each x-DLFM architecture and are compared with the existing EU regulatory framework, in which no DLFM exists. Based on these system-level simulation results, FLEXGRID was able to provide valuable policy-based recommendations to the EC at the end of the project’s lifetime.
To address its objectives, FLEXGRID system consists of four main subsystems (or else S/W components), namely the:
• Automated Trading Platform (ATP), which includes all the FLEXGRID frontend services offered to the: i) FMO user, ii) DSO user, iii) ESP user, and iv) flexibility aggregator user. The design of the core FLEXGRID ATP is based on the design of the NODES market platform, which aims at matching the business interests of both flexibility demand (i.e. FlexDemand) and flexibility supply (i.e.FlexSupply) stakeholders.
• Automated Flexibility Aggregation Toolkit (AFAT), which includes all the FLEXGRID backend services (i.e. advanced mathematical models and algorithms) offered to the flexibility aggregator user in order to: i) optimally manage a FlexRequest published on the ATP, ii) create an optimal FlexOffer and submit it in ATP, iii) manage a novel B2C flexibility market by properly incentivizing end energy prosumers to provide their flexibility.
• FlexSupplier’s Toolkit (FST), which includes all the FLEXGRID backend services (i.e. advanced mathematical models and algorithms) offered to the Energy Service Provide (ESP) user in order to: i) optimally schedule its FlexAssets, ii) optimally invest on new FlexAssets in the future, iii) co-optimize its participation in multiple energy and reserve markets and thus maximize its stacked revenues
• Flexibility Market Clearing Toolkit (FMCT), which includes all the FLEXGRID backend services (i.e. advanced mathematical models and algorithms) offered to the flexibility market operator (FMO) and DSO user in order to: i) run a network-aware market clearing process for three main DLFM products, and ii) create dynamic FlexRequests and submit them on ATP.
The ultimate goal of FLEXGRID project was to integrate all above-mentioned S/W components and respective mathematical models and algorithms in one single web platform, which can provide innovative services to DSOs/ESPs/aggregators and FMOs after the end of the project’s lifetime.
