Periodic Reporting for period 3 - X-FLEX (Integrated energy solutions and new market mechanisms for an eXtended FLEXibility of the European grid)
Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-09-30
The H2020 X-FLEX project, with a budget of € 9,5M, 12 institutions from 6 European countries and led by the company ETRA, has developed a set of efficient, cost-effective, integrated solutions, that facilitates the optimum combination of decentralised flexibility assets, both on the generation (DER) and on the demand side (V2G, power-to-heat/cold/gas, batteries, demand response), in order to create more reliable, resilient and sustainable smart grids, with special attention to extreme weather events impact. The project began October 1, 2019 and had a duration of four years.
More specifically, X-FLEX developed 4 complementary products that offer services to all the energy stakeholders, from network operators (TSO, DSO, microgrid operators) to final consumers/prosumers and flexibility providers, including other intermediate players, such as retailers and aggregators. These products have been built on a number of tools and services developed and demonstrated in successful EU projects: NOBEL GRID, WiseGRID, INVADE and COMPILE, all of them part of BRIDGE initiative, enabling a higher impact and shorter time to market.
These X-FLEX project solutions have been tested in real conditions in 4 pilot sites in 3 EU Member states (Bulgaria, Slovenia and Greece), with different needs and socioeconomic and technological boundaries, involving multiple existing flexibility assets (batteries, power to heat/cold, vehicle to grid, etc.) and all complementary actors of the energy network (DSO, TSO, microgrid operator, utilities, flexibility providers...).
More specifically, X-FLEX developed 4 complementary products that offer services to all the energy stakeholders, from network operators (TSO, DSO, microgrid operators) to final consumers/prosumers and flexibility providers, including other intermediate players, such as retailers and aggregators. These products have been built on a number of tools and services developed and demonstrated in successful EU projects: NOBEL GRID, WiseGRID, INVADE and COMPILE, all of them part of BRIDGE initiative, enabling a higher impact and shorter time to market.
These X-FLEX project solutions have been tested in real conditions in 4 pilot sites in 3 EU Member states (Bulgaria, Slovenia and Greece), with different needs and socioeconomic and technological boundaries, involving multiple existing flexibility assets (batteries, power to heat/cold, vehicle to grid, etc.) and all complementary actors of the energy network (DSO, TSO, microgrid operator, utilities, flexibility providers...).
The main results that have been achieved during the project are:
- Description and analysis of the project use cases (UCs). Based on the IEC 62559-2:2015 and SGAM framework, the project use cases have been described following an iterative process. Three main primary UCs categories have been defined (one per tool) with a total of 31 UCs related with the functionalities of the tools, the provided services and the needs of the pilot sites.
- Definition of project requirements: Following the Volere methodology, 194 requirements have been identified for the project. The requirements have been classified in five groups (one per product, general and interaction among tools) and have been prioritized. They cover mainly operational, functional and data, legal, security, performance, usability and scope of the product aspects, which will enable the successful realisation of the expected tools functionalities and their fruitful implementation at the demos.
- Development of the X-FLEX architecture of the use cases (UCs): To support the project goals, it has been developed the X-FLEX architecture, using a systematic approach based on the SGAM framework. The purpose of the modelling of the X-FLEX UCs following the SGAM framework is mainly to provide a homogenized approach for the description of the UCs defined using the IEC 62559-2 standard so for the subsequent development phase of the project tools to have all the necessary information for the integration of the various systems and hardware components with the tool.
- Overview Formal analysis of the pilot sites: In order to design and develop the four tools of the project (GRIDFLEX, MARKETFLEX, SERVIFLEX and X-FLEX platform) it has been analysed in detail the situation and conditions of the project pilot sites. This review analysis provides a clear landscape of the available infrastructure and technical conditions of the pilot sites together with the regulatory frameworks and market situation and identified barriers and proposed solutions.
- Plan of the demonstration activities: The pilot sites have ellaborated a project plan that defines how the project activities in the different X-FLEX pilot sites will be executed, monitored and controlled providing a summarized framework of the project and its purpose. T
- Design and development of the project tools: The project partners have submitted the final version of the four tools of the project (GRIDFLEX, MARKETFLEX, SERVIFLEX and X-FLEX platform) based on the Use cases, requirements and architecture defined in previous stages.
- Pilot sites demonstration activities: Based on the plan of the demonstration activities, the pilot site leaders have demonstrated the project solutions in the 4 pilot sites in Slovenia, Bulgaria and Greece.
- Calculation of the impact: In order to evaluate and assess the project impact and performance, a list of 41 KPIs has been calculated, of which 27 are technical, 7 are economic, 3 are environmental and 4 are social.
- Identification of the project KERs: The project partners have defined the exploitation and commercialization strategies of 7 KER of the project and have described the business plans of 4 of the main KERs.
- Horizontal activities: Other activities of the project have been active in order to ensure the proper achievement of the project objectives and its proper promotion a, such as dissemination, communication, cooperation with other projects, and data privacy issues, among others.
In line with this, from the beginning of the project, project partners have submitted 52 deliverables and 11 milestones have been achieved, all of them without any delay.
- Description and analysis of the project use cases (UCs). Based on the IEC 62559-2:2015 and SGAM framework, the project use cases have been described following an iterative process. Three main primary UCs categories have been defined (one per tool) with a total of 31 UCs related with the functionalities of the tools, the provided services and the needs of the pilot sites.
- Definition of project requirements: Following the Volere methodology, 194 requirements have been identified for the project. The requirements have been classified in five groups (one per product, general and interaction among tools) and have been prioritized. They cover mainly operational, functional and data, legal, security, performance, usability and scope of the product aspects, which will enable the successful realisation of the expected tools functionalities and their fruitful implementation at the demos.
- Development of the X-FLEX architecture of the use cases (UCs): To support the project goals, it has been developed the X-FLEX architecture, using a systematic approach based on the SGAM framework. The purpose of the modelling of the X-FLEX UCs following the SGAM framework is mainly to provide a homogenized approach for the description of the UCs defined using the IEC 62559-2 standard so for the subsequent development phase of the project tools to have all the necessary information for the integration of the various systems and hardware components with the tool.
- Overview Formal analysis of the pilot sites: In order to design and develop the four tools of the project (GRIDFLEX, MARKETFLEX, SERVIFLEX and X-FLEX platform) it has been analysed in detail the situation and conditions of the project pilot sites. This review analysis provides a clear landscape of the available infrastructure and technical conditions of the pilot sites together with the regulatory frameworks and market situation and identified barriers and proposed solutions.
- Plan of the demonstration activities: The pilot sites have ellaborated a project plan that defines how the project activities in the different X-FLEX pilot sites will be executed, monitored and controlled providing a summarized framework of the project and its purpose. T
- Design and development of the project tools: The project partners have submitted the final version of the four tools of the project (GRIDFLEX, MARKETFLEX, SERVIFLEX and X-FLEX platform) based on the Use cases, requirements and architecture defined in previous stages.
- Pilot sites demonstration activities: Based on the plan of the demonstration activities, the pilot site leaders have demonstrated the project solutions in the 4 pilot sites in Slovenia, Bulgaria and Greece.
- Calculation of the impact: In order to evaluate and assess the project impact and performance, a list of 41 KPIs has been calculated, of which 27 are technical, 7 are economic, 3 are environmental and 4 are social.
- Identification of the project KERs: The project partners have defined the exploitation and commercialization strategies of 7 KER of the project and have described the business plans of 4 of the main KERs.
- Horizontal activities: Other activities of the project have been active in order to ensure the proper achievement of the project objectives and its proper promotion a, such as dissemination, communication, cooperation with other projects, and data privacy issues, among others.
In line with this, from the beginning of the project, project partners have submitted 52 deliverables and 11 milestones have been achieved, all of them without any delay.
The project solutions have been implemented and demonstrated in four pilot sites in Ravne na Koroškem, and Luče (Slovenia), Albena (Bulgaria) and Xanthi (Greece). The following are the outcomes of the impacts assessed in these pilots during the project:
Impact 1: Enhance the flexibility of distribution grids with high renewable shares
According to the environmental impact assessment, all pilots experienced an increase in cumulative renewable energy and self-sufficiency following the deployment of X-FLEX tools. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that regions with high distributed renewable production have a high potential for replication.
Impact 2: Establish a local electricity market which creates business case for stakeholders
The inclusion of local energy communities has been analysed as an essential aspect of the development of market-based flexibility services in the distribution system, hindered replication potential for local flexibility markets due to the current lack of a regulatory framework.
Impact 3: Improve the capability to manage future energy loads including EVs
X-FLEX tools demonstrated nearly 100% dispatchability, high flexibility availability, and effective unit forecasting and operation. The data gathered revealed extremely high flexibility availability throughout the year in all of the pilots with regard to flexibility resulting from EV charging.
Impact 4: Improve distribution grid operations, avoiding unnecessary investments by solving congestion
High observability and forecastability of X-FLEX solutions result in a comparatively short congestion mitigation time and frequently lower peak-to-average ratios. Furthermore, it has been shown that X-FLEX can significantly shorten the time needed for fault mitigation following strong winds.
Impact 1: Enhance the flexibility of distribution grids with high renewable shares
According to the environmental impact assessment, all pilots experienced an increase in cumulative renewable energy and self-sufficiency following the deployment of X-FLEX tools. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that regions with high distributed renewable production have a high potential for replication.
Impact 2: Establish a local electricity market which creates business case for stakeholders
The inclusion of local energy communities has been analysed as an essential aspect of the development of market-based flexibility services in the distribution system, hindered replication potential for local flexibility markets due to the current lack of a regulatory framework.
Impact 3: Improve the capability to manage future energy loads including EVs
X-FLEX tools demonstrated nearly 100% dispatchability, high flexibility availability, and effective unit forecasting and operation. The data gathered revealed extremely high flexibility availability throughout the year in all of the pilots with regard to flexibility resulting from EV charging.
Impact 4: Improve distribution grid operations, avoiding unnecessary investments by solving congestion
High observability and forecastability of X-FLEX solutions result in a comparatively short congestion mitigation time and frequently lower peak-to-average ratios. Furthermore, it has been shown that X-FLEX can significantly shorten the time needed for fault mitigation following strong winds.