DEMO 3: SOUTH-WEST EU (SPAIN & FRANCE)

DEMO 3 explores how flexibility services can empower energy users and grid operators in Spain and France. Through pilots in Madrid, Bilbao, Benidorm, Seville, Mougins, and Caen, it brings together public buildings, households, companies, and EVs to test real-life solutions for smarter energy use and sharing.

It focuses on three service groups:
• Customer-centric services for energy communities and individual users to optimize consumption and provide flexibility;
• Grid-centric services for DSOs to manage short- and long-term congestion through local flexibility markets;
• Cross-sector services, especially in mobility, to unlock flexibility from EV charging and energy data.

DEMO 3 also promotes secure, standardized data exchange among energy users, DSOs, and service providers, supporting a more flexible, resilient, and future-ready energy system.

Each DEMO is implementing and analysing results from three different types of flexibility services: consumer centric, grid-centric and cross-sectorial. The interactive graph below shows how each service category is linked to the selected Business Use Cases (BUCs) that are being tested in this DEMO.

Consumer / Community centric flexibility

Customer-centric flexibility services, for energy communities and individual consumers/citizens for energy optimisation and flexibility estimation to participate in DSOs local congestion markets.

Pilot 1, Energy communities, EC, led by INESCTEC: Determine the optimal capacity of Distributed energy Resources, DERs, to be installed in an EC and operate an EC to share energy among the members and provide flexibility to third parties.

Pilot 2, Aggregation and optimization of thermal appliances (TV). Led by Thermovault: . after installing new factory-ready or retrofit thermoelectric water heaters to unlock flexibility provision, water heaters are controlled to reduce its consumption and provide aggregated flexible services like DSO congestion management and TSO balancing services.

Planning and sizing of energy communities considering customer flexibility. Pilot 1, BUC 1.

Operation, energy sharing and flexibility boosting of local energy communities. Pilot 1, BUC 2.

Optimal control of domestic thermal loads to reduce costs and boost flexibility. Pilot 2, BUC 3.

Grid-centric flexibility

Grid-centric flexibility services, for Distribution System Operators short-term and long-term congestion management by the aggregation of distributed resources.

Pilot 3, LT & ST congestion management, led by i-DE: procure flexibility products to solve short-term (ST) and long-term (LT) local distribution network congestion problems.

Pilot 4, aggregation and energy optimization, led by IBEspaña: procure flexibility aggregation to solve local distribution network congestion problems and battery optimization.

Pilot 5, Grid segmentation, led by INESCTEC: Develop a grid segmentation methodology to assist the DSO with flexibility per zones (clusters), led by INESCTEC.

Long-term distribution grid congestion management. Pilot 3, BUC 4.

Short-term congestion constraints forecasting and management for local flexibility service activation. Pilot 3 & 5, BUC 6.

Aggregation for TSO and DSO grid services. Pilot 2 & 4, BUC 5.

Cross sector flexibility boosters

Cross-sector flexibility boosters, mainly with mobility sector, to manage charging points for unlocking flexibility and creating additional value from energy data.

Pilot 6, EV route optimization, led by RWTH: finding the most efficient travel route for electric vehicles, considering factors like charging station locations, battery capacity, and energy usage.
Pilot 7, Connect flexibility providers: Enable participants to integrate services in the flexibility value-chain to exchange data, handle bids and activate
flexibility. Create Flexibility master data repositories and open for new consumers and service providers. Provide interoperability across interactions.
Demo 8, EV Charging and Asset Optimization, led by SAP, offers a solution that enables companies to efficiently manage electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructures on a large scale. By adapting charging profiles to align with energy availability, this solution supports the transition towards more sustainable and convenient electric mobility.

Combine energy services (production, storage) with mobility. Pilot 6 & 8, BUC 13.

Operating a value chain enabler for flexibility-centric and non-energy services. Pilot 7, BUC 12.

This DEMO focuses on practical solutions that make energy use more efficient, affordable, and sustainable. The table below provides the description of the eight Business Use Cases (BUCs) to be tested in the different demos:

	BUCs	DESCRIPTION
1	Planning and sizing of energy communities considering customer flexibility	This BUC is about helping neighbourhoods or groups of people create their own energy communities. It includes tools that help decide how many solar panels or batteries should be installed and how energy can be shared efficiently.
2	Operation, energy sharing and flexibility boosting of local energy communities	Once an energy community is up and running, this BUC focuses on how to manage energy sharing between members and use any extra energy for the benefit of the grid.
3	Optimise domestic thermal loads to reduce costs and boost flexibility	Upgrading thermoelectric water heaters so they can use energy more efficiently and help the grid when needed, without compromising comfort.
4	Long-term distribution grid congestion management	Using flexible distributed resources for long term congestion management. The procurement of flexibility is made in the long-term local flexibility markets from weeks to years ahead of delivery
5	Aggregation for TSO and DSO grid services	Bring together various energy users—like homes, buildings, and electric cars—so they can act as one large flexible unit to support both local and national electricity networks.
6	Short-term congestion constraints forecasting and management for local flexibility service activation	Consists in short-term DSO congestion management considering the physical congestions (overloading) that might be predicted with the information available to System Operators, SO, approximately in the timeframe of D-1 (day ahead). The necessary flexibility is procured by the system operator in the same timeframe, and later activated in real time.
7	Operating a value chain enabler for flexibility-centric energy and non energy services	This objective explores how flexibility services (like adjusting heating, EV charging, or water usage) can support not just the energy sector but also other areas like mobility or comfort.
8	Combine energy services (production, storage) with mobility	This objective is about smart charging: adjusting when and where electric vehicles are charged to reduce costs, avoid congestion, and make better use of renewable energy.

PILOTS

FURTHER INFORMATION:

BeFlexible project, D6.1, Requirements specification of DEMO 3 pilots (sensitive document)
BeFlexible project D6.2, Flexibility Characterization and Customer Engagement Strategy implementation report.
BeFlexible project D6.3, Requirement specification of DEMO 3 pilots (sensitive document)
BeFlexible project, D1.1, Regulatory framework for fostering flexibility deployment: roles, responsibility of agents & flexibility mechanism designs.
BeFlexible project, D1.2, Framework for a flexibility centric energy and cross-sector value chain, business use cases and KPI definition.
BeFlexible project, D2.1, Value Proposition for Market Actors
BeFlexible project, D2.2, Engagement Strategy.
BeFlexible project, D2.3, Definition of legal & ethical requirements (sensitive document)
BeFlexible project, D3.1, System use cases, requirements and reference architecture.
BeFlexible project, D3.2, Reference architecture and common data space (sensitive document)

DEMO 3: SOUTH-WEST EU (SPAIN & FRANCE)

Consumer / Community centric flexibility

Planning and sizing of energy communities considering customer flexibility. Pilot 1, BUC 1.

Operation, energy sharing and flexibility boosting of local energy communities. Pilot 1, BUC 2.

Optimal control of domestic thermal loads to reduce costs and boost flexibility. Pilot 2, BUC 3.

Grid-centric flexibility

Long-term distribution grid congestion management. Pilot 3, BUC 4.

Short-term congestion constraints forecasting and management for local flexibility service activation. Pilot 3 & 5, BUC 6.

Aggregation for TSO and DSO grid services. Pilot 2 & 4, BUC 5.

Cross sector flexibility boosters

Combine energy services (production, storage) with mobility. Pilot 6 & 8, BUC 13.

Operating a value chain enabler for flexibility-centric and non-energy services. Pilot 7, BUC 12.

PILOTS

Location 1 – Madrid

Location 2 – Benidorm

Location 3 – Bilbao

Location 4 – Seville

Location 5 – Mougins

Location 6 – Caen

FURTHER INFORMATION:

DEMO 1: SOUTH-MID EU

DEMO 2: NORTH EU

Linkedin / X / Youtube