PILOT TEST

BeFlexible concepts are demonstrated and validated throughout the project across diverse environments, in terms of types of consumers, geographical and climate areas and energy loads.

A heterogeneous group of 11 pilots is deployed in four different countries (Italy, Sweden, Spain and France), selected to cover a broad range of energy behaviours consumers and grid typologies and to test the solutions in distinct regulatory environments and in alignment with national plans for the energy transition in 2030.

The main goal of these pilots is to assess the impact of the services, platforms and architectures; validate the consumer engagement strategies; enable a proper interaction among all energy actors; and fostering market uptake.

The different pilots are located in three demos structured by climatic areas covering EU’s different representative climates.

DEMO 1: SOUTH-MID EU (ITALY)

DEMO 1 tests and validates flexibility solutions, focusing on TSO–DSO coordination for local and global services in a simulated environment. Conducted in Rome and Cuneo, it integrates national pilots to trial innovative devices for DER monitoring and control, enabling their effective participation in flexibility markets.

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Pilot 1.1 – Cross-sectoral business involved (water, EVs, residential and industrial customers)

BeFlexible’s roman demo will upgrade the following platforms developed in the EU Platone Project: the DSO TP, a platform able to elaborate local flexibility requests and to assess the grid constraints; the Blockchain Access Layer, a solution able to certify the flexibility data for the settlement phase that increases the trust in the market and avoids disputes between stakeholders; and the flexibility register.

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Location: Rome. Urban context with high population density. Peak load of 2GW in 2020; will grow to 3 GW in 2030.

Climate: Mediterranean North.

Participants: Terna (TSO), Areti (DSO). Tech. & research: ENG, RSE, RWTH Aachen University. Engagement: Soulsight. Ethics & Legal: Timelex.

Types of consumers: residential consumers living in buildings; prosumers with PV on the roof living in independent houses; company electric vehicle (EV) fleets; CPOs that manage public and private rechargers; industrial facilities.

Type of load: EVs, residential applications, storages, residential and commercial Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC).

Pilots 1.2 and 1.3 – Flexibility from aggregated distributed resources

These pilots leverage on already developed DSO technical platform (DERMS to plan and operate local flexibility) and DSO Local Market platform for bilateral contracts. Local flexibility services are scheduled based on short term forecasts of grid congestion and voltage control needs. TSO-DSO coordination and BSP communication will be enhanced via a blockchain-based layer. The pilots will test advanced remote control and grid automation solutions allowing data exchange between the DERs and the DSO/TSO—potentially through the BSP—for observability and activation of necessary services using the PGUI.

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Location: South Italy (Foggia and Benevento) and North Italy (Cuneo).

Climate: Mediterranean North climate (South Italy) and Alpine South climate (North Italy).

Participants: Terna (TSO), E-distribuzione (DSO). Tech. & research: GDS, RSE. Engagement: Soulsight. Ethics & Legal: Timelex.

Types of consumers: all, no technology constraints for Balance Service Providers (BSP). Customer engagement campaign for this demo is foreseen to recruit additional potential BSP at MV level, potentially involving all aggregators operating in Italy for LV customers involvement and aggregation test.

Type of load: local DSO market design is neutral regarding ‘technology’ providers. This pilot involves loads and generators able to provide the flexibility service. Positive technical qualification test enable the resources for DSO local market. All flexibility assets, notwithstanding technology, will be subject to respective qualification criteria in order to provide system and/or local services.

DEMO 2: NORTH EU (SWEDEN)

North European Demo aims to scale up flexibility by leveraging existing local markets. It recruits and integrates customers into these markets, refining activation and delivery processes.

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Pilot 2.1 – Flexibility markets for congestion management

The aim of this pilot is to increase the seller liquidity in Swedish congestion areas and the knowledge in the aggregation sphere. It also seeks to improve current business models for flexibility markets and develop new ones where needed, while strengthening the DSO’s internal capabilities and understanding to enable potential flexibility applications.

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Location: Southern Sweden.

Climate: Continental / Nemoral.

Participants: E.ON (DSO), EONEIS (aggregator). Engagement support: GECO. Ethics & Legal: Timelex.

Types of consumers: commercial buildings, Cooling Heat & Power (CHP) heat pumps, aggregators, industries.

Type of load: electrical space heating building level (heat pumps), large-scale batteries, residential/commercial demand response (heat pumps, charging infrastructure, appliances, lighting, etc.), industrial scale heat pumps in district heating.

Pilot 2.2 – Unlocking flexibility from buildings

To build aggregation capabilities, EONEIS will carry out a pilot unloking building loads for flexibility reasons, both for DSO and TSO markets. The aim is to facilitate market participation and increase liquidity for grid flexibility by acting as a flexibility enabler and aggregator, through the development and testing of concepts and services based on local energy production, storage, and control.

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Location: Southern Sweden.

Climate: Continental / Nemoral.

Participants: EONEIS (aggregator). Engagement support: GECO. Ethics & Legal: Timelex.

Types of consumers: residential, commercial buildings and industries.

Type of load: aggregated and non-aggregated buildings with assets that are steerable in power outtake over time, (e.g. heat pumps, charging infrastructure and stationary battery).

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

DEMO 3 tests flexibility services in Spain and France, engaging public buildings, households, companies, and EVs to promote smarter energy use. It focuses on three types of services: consumer-centric, grid-centric (targeting congestion management), and cross-sectoral (mainly EV charging). The demo also fosters secure, standardized data exchange to support a more flexible, resilient, and future-ready energy system.

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Pilot 3.1 – Congestion management through demand response in Madrid

Different optimization algorithms will be tested in EV chargers, along with the use of blockchain in the aggregation platform for energy trading. In paralell, energy consumption, cost optimization, and flexibility identification will be tested in Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) of residential customers.

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Location: Madrid (Spain).

Climate: Mediterranean mountains. Temperate, dry-hot summer.

Participants: DSOs: i-DE. Aggregators: IBCLIES. FSPs: Iberdrola, other possible FSPs. Engagement: Soulsight. Ethics & Legal: Timelex.

Types of consumers: commercial/services (Iberdrola premises); residential.

Type of load: electrical space heating/cooling at building level (20 residential customers to be retrofitted), commercial & industrial size batteries (250kW), 59 EV charging points of 7.4kW, residential/commercial demand response (appliances, lighting, etc.), self-consumption management.

Pilot 3.2 – Congestion management through demand response in Benidorm

Data-driven algorithms will be tested in a grid area to identify efficient aggregations to offer flexibility and maximize benefits. In paralell, energy consumption, cost optimization, and flexibility identification will be tested in Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) of residential customers.

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Location: Benidorm (Alicante, Spain).

Climate: Mediterranean South. Arid, steppe-cold.

Participants: DSOs: i-DE. Aggregators: IBCLIES. FSPs: Thermovault, other possible FSPs. Engagement: Soulsight. Ethics & Legal: Timelex.

Types of consumers: residential consumers from holiday homes in touristic area (middleclass), possible public sector buildings.

Type of load: electrical space heating/cooling at building level (20 residential customers to be retrofitted), residential/commercial demand response (appliances, lighting, etc.), self-consumption management.

Pilot 3.3 – Congestion management through demand response in Bilbao

Battery management will be tested to schedule the provision of different services to the DSO and TSO, beyond arbitrage. The integration of protocol-based charging points with the CP management platform will be evaluated to enhance interoperability. Additionally, data-driven algorithms will be tested in a grid area to identify efficient aggregations that offer flexibility and maximize benefits.

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Location: Bilbao (Spain).

Climate: Lusitanian. Temperate, no dry season, warm summer.

Participants: i-DE (DSO). Iberdrola Clientes España (aggregator). FSPs: Iberdrola Renewables, other possible FSPs. Engagement: Soulsight. Ethics & Legal: Timelex.

Types of consumers: commercial/services (Iberdrola premises), possible public services buildings (sport facilities, office buildings).

Type of load: electrical space heating/cooling at building level, 25 charging points of 7.4kW and one of 22kW, demand response in buildings (appliances, lighting, etc.), self-consumption management.

Pilot 3.4 – Aggregation for TSO and DSO grid services

This pilot simulates the violation of the physical limitations of the network caused by outages or forecasted congestion. For services activation, the aggregator (Thermovault) will send commands to the following possible aggregated DERs: thermal loads in households, previously retrofitted and aggregated by Thermovault. Data-driven algorithms will be implemented to identify flexibility potential and estimate energy savings of customers that retrofitted their thermal loads.

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Location: Seville (Spain).

Climate: Mediterranean North.

Participants: DSOs: E-Distribución. FSPs: Thermovault, other possible FSPs.

Types of consumers: residential customers.

Type of load: electrical space heating/cooling at building level (40 residential customers to be retrofitted), residential/commercial demand response (appliances, lighting, etc.).

Pilots 3.5 and 3.6 – SAP premises and eMobility

This pilot builds on an existing backbone serving several pilot customers, including CPOs, towns, and companies. However, mainstream CP management systems are passive consumers and only few of them include smart EMS like ours. Our goal is to extend its capabilities to be an active node of the flexible market, enabling price and carbon footprint optimization. We aim to develop added value services for both end users and site managers, and to leverage participant-provided services to broaden the approach and better support employees.

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Location: pilot 3.5 is in Mougins (France) and pilot 3.6 is in Caen (France).

Location & Climate: Mediterranean North climate (Mougins) and Atlantic Central climate (Caen), no dry season, warm summer.

Participants: SAP, STEMY, Thermovault, INESC-TEC, Soulsight.

Types of consumers: SAP employees are typically middle/upper class, technology literate, international & gender mix and their families.

Type of load: on the company sites: 1000+ MW charging capacity over 70 on site including slow AC up to ultra-fast DC from 30+ brands; 150 kWh storage; 100 kWc PV; smart building. At employee premise: supervised home charging points with eventually smarthome with local small scale solar panels (80+ employees equipped), domestic electric water heaters or other high consumption devices. Overall, more than 300 battery EVs from multiple brands.

PILOT TEST

DEMO 1: SOUTH-MID EU (ITALY)

Pilot 1.1 – Cross-sectoral business involved (water, EVs, residential and industrial customers)

Pilots 1.2 and 1.3 – Flexibility from aggregated distributed resources

DEMO 2: NORTH EU (SWEDEN)

Pilot 2.1 – Flexibility markets for congestion management

Pilot 2.2 – Unlocking flexibility from buildings

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

Pilot 3.1 – Congestion management through demand response in Madrid

Pilot 3.2 – Congestion management through demand response in Benidorm

Pilot 3.3 – Congestion management through demand response in Bilbao

Pilot 3.4 – Aggregation for TSO and DSO grid services

Pilots 3.5 and 3.6 – SAP premises and eMobility

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