Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EdgeFLEX (Providing flexibility to the grid by enabling VPPs to offer both fast and slow dynamics control services)
Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-03-31
The challenge
The global energy sector has experienced a rapid refocussing of priorities in the past year to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis in Europe. Politicians at European and National level are focussing on using all available tools, such as the European Green Deal and REPowerEU initiatives, to accelerate the decarbonisation and digitalisation of energy while at the same time, Germany extended the life of fossil fuel and nuclear power generators to secure the short-term energy supply. Flexibilities at all levels in the energy system, and particularly at the local level, need to be developed and deployed as rapidly as possible to secure the energy system with the added benefit that such actions accelerate changes needed to reach global climate goals – this is the challenge which edgeFLEX has addressed.
The edgeFLEX approach
Commercial investment in VPPs has grown rapidly in recent years. The further evolution of VPPs could support not only the promotion of intermittent Renewable Energy Sources (RES) but also the integration of all Distributed Energy Resources (DER) into the full scope of grid operations, if the following problems can be solved:
• The optimalisation of combinations of DER and RES into a new generation of VPPs providing grid supportive flexibility, with the slow reaction times needed by today’s day-ahead and intra-day markets, as well as the development of
• New ancillary services implementing real-time reaction techniques for fast frequency and inertial response and for voltage control.
In a nutshell, in a future DER-based power electronics-driven network, VPPs play a similar role to the one played by synchronous machine in a traditional power system. Flexibility is enabled by going beyond electrochemical storage to explore opportunities offered by the dynamically controllable behaviour of power electronics driven DERs. Demand Side Management or low-cost solutions can be deployed in a neighbourhood. They could enable the expansion of the role and responsibility of Local Energy Communities, enabling them to cooperate with VPPs or even become VPPs as the role of VPPs evolves.
edgeFLEX links technical solutions to societal expectations. Short reaction times can be addressed by 5G-powered edge clouds linking dispersed devices in near real-time. In this respect, a new concept of VPPs becomes possible with communications corresponding to multiple layers of dynamics. A new architecture for VPPs deploying a multi-layer solution enables the electrical system to cope with intermittent energy sources. VPPs are brought to a new level enabling them to interact on markets offering ancillary services to System Operators. edgeFLEX developed this next generation VPP concept and demonstrates elements of it in three field trials and laboratory tests. It explored innovative optimisations, financial tools and business scenarios for VPPs and assessed their economic and societal impact. It worked actively to remove barriers by contributing to global standards and European level regulation.
The global energy sector has experienced a rapid refocussing of priorities in the past year to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis in Europe. Politicians at European and National level are focussing on using all available tools, such as the European Green Deal and REPowerEU initiatives, to accelerate the decarbonisation and digitalisation of energy while at the same time, Germany extended the life of fossil fuel and nuclear power generators to secure the short-term energy supply. Flexibilities at all levels in the energy system, and particularly at the local level, need to be developed and deployed as rapidly as possible to secure the energy system with the added benefit that such actions accelerate changes needed to reach global climate goals – this is the challenge which edgeFLEX has addressed.
The edgeFLEX approach
Commercial investment in VPPs has grown rapidly in recent years. The further evolution of VPPs could support not only the promotion of intermittent Renewable Energy Sources (RES) but also the integration of all Distributed Energy Resources (DER) into the full scope of grid operations, if the following problems can be solved:
• The optimalisation of combinations of DER and RES into a new generation of VPPs providing grid supportive flexibility, with the slow reaction times needed by today’s day-ahead and intra-day markets, as well as the development of
• New ancillary services implementing real-time reaction techniques for fast frequency and inertial response and for voltage control.
In a nutshell, in a future DER-based power electronics-driven network, VPPs play a similar role to the one played by synchronous machine in a traditional power system. Flexibility is enabled by going beyond electrochemical storage to explore opportunities offered by the dynamically controllable behaviour of power electronics driven DERs. Demand Side Management or low-cost solutions can be deployed in a neighbourhood. They could enable the expansion of the role and responsibility of Local Energy Communities, enabling them to cooperate with VPPs or even become VPPs as the role of VPPs evolves.
edgeFLEX links technical solutions to societal expectations. Short reaction times can be addressed by 5G-powered edge clouds linking dispersed devices in near real-time. In this respect, a new concept of VPPs becomes possible with communications corresponding to multiple layers of dynamics. A new architecture for VPPs deploying a multi-layer solution enables the electrical system to cope with intermittent energy sources. VPPs are brought to a new level enabling them to interact on markets offering ancillary services to System Operators. edgeFLEX developed this next generation VPP concept and demonstrates elements of it in three field trials and laboratory tests. It explored innovative optimisations, financial tools and business scenarios for VPPs and assessed their economic and societal impact. It worked actively to remove barriers by contributing to global standards and European level regulation.
edgeFLEX Operational results
• • With the help of key academic players, edgeFLEX developed new fundamental tools for frequency control as well as innovative solutions enabling our new concepts for fast and slow dynamics including voltage and frequency control and inertial estimation and developed a novel virtualised edgePMU.
• ICT experts integrated the new solutions and algorithms into the edgeFLEX Platform, providing a flexibility offer management system which can interface to local energy markets.
• Partners expert in VPP technology, developed optimisations to the operation of VPPs, improving their return on investment of VPP assets, through better power generation forecasting methods and the optimal deployment of storage in the VPP.
• A mobile system global player developed a novel 5G-API for Device Management, leading to global 3GPP standards developed from this result.
• Energy providers implemented many of the edgeFLEX concepts in live power systems, deploying the edgeFLEX Platform, and verifying the effectiveness of edgeFLEX solutions in cooperation with open and advanced grid operators. The field and lab trials provide an understanding of the solutions to the concrete challenges of determining the right balance between system level and local requirements, slow and fast dynamics.
edgeFLEX implemented a 3-step process to bring our specific results to our defined target groups as illustrated in Figure 1 below.
We expand the definition of the VPP to include any asset connected to the Grid. The new definition enables an expansion of the trading volume and content of RES on trading markets and this result impacts the Energy Trading Community in particular. This step is crucial to make sure that the solutions developed by edgeFLEX can have a market even before any change in regulation. While the full edgeFLEX approach potentially requires new regulation, the new concepts developed in the framework of the Slow Dynamics use case are feasible under current regulatory conditions.
Our new fast dynamics services enable the creation of new local energy markets requiring extensions of the current regulatory framework to be adopted at national level. This result impacts grid operators offering them new flexibility to stabilise the grid and a new market to organise the trading of the new services.
By the end of the project, edgeFLEX had promoted its results and their further exploitation in 1 book, 39 publications, 4 accepted contributions to 3GPP global mobile communications standards, as donations to the Open Source software curated by the Linux Foundation LF Energy project, in the virtual FlexCommunity (of which edgeFLEX was a co-founder), exhibition stands at 3 Trade fairs and through many invited key-note speeches and presentations. The further deployment and development of results as field trials with DSO’s has already been agreed. Research results are already planned to be further developed in new Horizon Europe projects.
• • With the help of key academic players, edgeFLEX developed new fundamental tools for frequency control as well as innovative solutions enabling our new concepts for fast and slow dynamics including voltage and frequency control and inertial estimation and developed a novel virtualised edgePMU.
• ICT experts integrated the new solutions and algorithms into the edgeFLEX Platform, providing a flexibility offer management system which can interface to local energy markets.
• Partners expert in VPP technology, developed optimisations to the operation of VPPs, improving their return on investment of VPP assets, through better power generation forecasting methods and the optimal deployment of storage in the VPP.
• A mobile system global player developed a novel 5G-API for Device Management, leading to global 3GPP standards developed from this result.
• Energy providers implemented many of the edgeFLEX concepts in live power systems, deploying the edgeFLEX Platform, and verifying the effectiveness of edgeFLEX solutions in cooperation with open and advanced grid operators. The field and lab trials provide an understanding of the solutions to the concrete challenges of determining the right balance between system level and local requirements, slow and fast dynamics.
edgeFLEX implemented a 3-step process to bring our specific results to our defined target groups as illustrated in Figure 1 below.
We expand the definition of the VPP to include any asset connected to the Grid. The new definition enables an expansion of the trading volume and content of RES on trading markets and this result impacts the Energy Trading Community in particular. This step is crucial to make sure that the solutions developed by edgeFLEX can have a market even before any change in regulation. While the full edgeFLEX approach potentially requires new regulation, the new concepts developed in the framework of the Slow Dynamics use case are feasible under current regulatory conditions.
Our new fast dynamics services enable the creation of new local energy markets requiring extensions of the current regulatory framework to be adopted at national level. This result impacts grid operators offering them new flexibility to stabilise the grid and a new market to organise the trading of the new services.
By the end of the project, edgeFLEX had promoted its results and their further exploitation in 1 book, 39 publications, 4 accepted contributions to 3GPP global mobile communications standards, as donations to the Open Source software curated by the Linux Foundation LF Energy project, in the virtual FlexCommunity (of which edgeFLEX was a co-founder), exhibition stands at 3 Trade fairs and through many invited key-note speeches and presentations. The further deployment and development of results as field trials with DSO’s has already been agreed. Research results are already planned to be further developed in new Horizon Europe projects.
edgeFLEX strategic results
The new priorities and stronger political will to accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources has increased the demand for the edgeFLEX solutions, has led edgeFLEX to revise the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) concept, to offer:
• A systemic view of flexibility, offering a Virtual Power System going beyond Virtual Power Plant evolution in which flexibility is deeply integrated with grid operation at every level including the low voltage level, solving voltage problems locally at their source, and offering the new concept of complex frequency with innovative algorithms for frequency control and inertial estimation providing a set of new fundamental tools for use by VPPs (Fig2),
• An incremental evolution in which every energy sector organisation can change at its own pace implementing modules of the edgeFLEX Platform as needed in their power infrastructure, in the ICT supporting it and digitalising in parallel or afterwards (Fig3), and
• A set of 5G-ready solutions enabling the integration of DERs into the energy system and supporting the use of edge infrastructure to virtualise and, if desired, enable the distributed operation of edgeFLEX services in the grid (Fig4).
These results support a reduced need for grid infrastructure investment by optimising the grid edge offering new business opportunities for Energy Communities to sell their energy and battery reserves on energy markets.
The new priorities and stronger political will to accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources has increased the demand for the edgeFLEX solutions, has led edgeFLEX to revise the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) concept, to offer:
• A systemic view of flexibility, offering a Virtual Power System going beyond Virtual Power Plant evolution in which flexibility is deeply integrated with grid operation at every level including the low voltage level, solving voltage problems locally at their source, and offering the new concept of complex frequency with innovative algorithms for frequency control and inertial estimation providing a set of new fundamental tools for use by VPPs (Fig2),
• An incremental evolution in which every energy sector organisation can change at its own pace implementing modules of the edgeFLEX Platform as needed in their power infrastructure, in the ICT supporting it and digitalising in parallel or afterwards (Fig3), and
• A set of 5G-ready solutions enabling the integration of DERs into the energy system and supporting the use of edge infrastructure to virtualise and, if desired, enable the distributed operation of edgeFLEX services in the grid (Fig4).
These results support a reduced need for grid infrastructure investment by optimising the grid edge offering new business opportunities for Energy Communities to sell their energy and battery reserves on energy markets.