EUNIVERSAL: MARKET ENABLING INTERFACE TO UNLOCK FLEXIBILITY SOLUTIONS FOR COST-EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF SMARTER DISTRIBUTION GRIDS

The project

The present context shows the potential of electricity grids to lead the energy system transition as long as new solutions deal with the challenges related to flexibility solutions, grid observability and controllability, market mechanisms and interoperability in a holistic way. The new solutions need to cover the technological aspects by linking smart and integrated services and tools for distribution grid with market mechanisms. This architecture will guarantee a significant impact on the environment and society. The project consortium accepted this challenge and will develop the“EUniversal Project” which will enable the transformation of the electricity grid by resolving existing limitations in the energy system through the introduction of a Universal Market Enabling Interface (UMEI). Through this concept, grids will become capable of accommodating all future scenarios through the active use of grid services, acting as an extensive toolbox of flexibility solutions and innovate market mechanisms.

Goals

The primary goal of EUniversal is to enable the transformation of the energy system into a new multi-energy and multi-consumer concept guaranteeing a sustainable, secure and stable manner of electricity supply by bringing forward an universal, adaptable and modular approach through a Universal Market Enabling Interface (UMEI) to interlink active system management with electricity markets and the provision of flexibility services, taking also into consideration the activation needs and the coordination requirements with both commercial parties and TSOs. To do so, EUniversal will define, develop and validate a set of market-oriented flexibility management services from DER in a real environment, under a large RES integration and high electrification scenario. In order to demonstrate the services generated in the development phase of the project, 3 different DEMO sites (located in Portugal (PT), Germany (DE) and Poland (PL)) will be run to validate the project solutions.

The role of EnergyVille/VITO

EnergyVille/VITO will lead the definition of the business use cases and market mechanisms for flexibility needs and grid services. In addition, EnergyVille/VITO will contribute with the grid decision support tools.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 864334.

Want to know more about this project?
Feel free to have a look at the project website.