Being a work package leader of the FLEXGRID H2020 project, Smart Innovation Norway organised the workshop “Energy flexibility – from customer to market” where national and international research partners could share, establish new collaborations, and generate new projects.

As a coordinator and partner of multiple research projects on Energy flexibility, Smart Innovation Norway organised this workshop to showcase the different projects it is involved in and their potential synergies within the topic of Energy flexibility.

Flexibility is shifting electricity consumption or generation in response to an external signal (e.g., payment) to provide a service to the electrical grid.

• Read more: Leading the way regarding energy flexibility

Share and discuss

– The workshop showcased examples of customers who are part of the Energy flexibility projects to enable an electricity system based on Renewable Energy Sources (RES). In such a system, flexibility from different sources can be leveraged to enable a pathway for the green transition. The workshop was of great value to share knowledge on offering flexibility and flexibility markets, says Farhan Farrukh, researcher at Smart Innovation Norway and workshop host.

The goal was to share experiences related to flexibility markets, including business models for aggregators and the challenges and opportunities of providing flexibility as a resource. The latest market developments were discussed to share knowledge and approaches for entering the flexibility market. Use cases, challenges, and opportunities related to flexibility as a commercial product were the main topics of the webinar. It highlighted the challenges the participants are facing and how an adequate regulatory framework could help to improve the business cases for flexibility services provision.  

The article continues after the video.

Session 1: Offering Flexibility 

The workshop’s first section began with Fridtjof Okkenhaug’s (Product Manager Energy and Program Manager R&D, Futurehome) presentation of flexible consumption patterns as part of the HouseholdFlex project. He presented some difficulties in getting homeowners to participate in demand-side flexibility and how Futurehome developed its product while considering the spot price adjustments and grid tariffs. 

An interesting follow-up presentation from Stig Ødegaard Ottesen (Section Head Energy Market Research, Smart Innovation Norway) highlighted the unique practical details that need to be considered on large-scale electrification. He focused on how flexibility and business innovation can avoid unnecessary grid enforcements.

The presentation showcased several challenges ASKO (one of Norway’s biggest fleet operators) is facing in their energy transition journey. By 2026, ASKO Vestby will electrify all 125 of its electric trucks. The distribution infrastructure may need to be strengthened, and additional grid connections may be necessary due to the significant rise in electricity demand. By the end of this year, ASKO aims to acquire 50 to 60 electric trucks for delivering food, which will double the demand for electricity needed for truck charging.

The presentation showed the project’s concept idea developed in collaboration with other partners, where flexibility can be utilised as a resource compared to traditional grid upgrade solution. There will be a combination of using the existing infrastructure, non-firm contracts, and flexibility solutions for ASKO’s case of electrification.

Buildings’ energy performance

Finally, to close the session, an interesting presentation was made by another EU project, iBECOME. Dr Robert Flanagan (Director of Innovation at VIOTAS) showcased the demand-side flexibility aspects of the tertiary sector. 10 partners from 4 countries are involved in demonstrating a combination of novel technologies for optimising buildings’ energy performance and comfort conditions while reducing operational costs.

– The panel discussion at the end focused on the motivation of businesses looking to provide flexibility from prosumers. The panellist shared their opinions on i) Why flexibility is interesting for households and industries? ii) How to unlock flexibility from different types of prosumers? And iii) which customers/assets have an unfulfilled potential for energy flexibility? says the Smart Innovation Norway researcher and workshop host, Farhan Farrukh.

Session 2: Flexibility markets

To start the session, an introduction about the FLEXGRID H2020 project was done as Farhan Farrukh presented the Automatic Trading Platform (ATP) and its services. As part of trends for the different flexibility solutions, an attractive presentation was shared by Morten Hagen (Head of Sales and Commercialisation, ENFO – part of Agder Energi) on EV charging in the flex market.

He deeply explained five distinct EV charging service models for housing associations and multiple-dwelling units, with pros and cons for each type. Morten also discussed how various suppliers of EV charging technologies might position themselves in the market as flexibility operators based on regulatory and technological factors. The presentation included ENFO’s experiences working in the flexibility market for commercial purposes and their role in the HouseholdFlex project with Smart Innovation Norway.

To bring the discussion towards a market side of the flexibility value chain, Hallstein Hagen (Senior Consultant) and Gesa Milzer (Project Manager) at NODES explained where NODES, as a market operator fits in the flexibility value chain.

They shared experiences from NODES demonstration- and research projects as well from the NODES platform and its use in the NorFlex project. The project results were described by NODES which covered issues such as the local, regional, and national markets, TSO/DSO cooperation, and process automation. The main message was to increase market participation by several flexibility suppliers and buyers to enhance the learnings of participating in a flexibility market.

Regulations for energy

To close the discussion around the flexibility markets, Alexander Kellerer, adviser at the Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority (NVE-RME), presented the existing and upcoming regulations for energy, the European Framework Guideline on Demand Response. How should DSO and TSO coordinate the interaction between wholesale and local markets? Alexander summarised the proposal by the Agency of Cooperation of the Electricity Regulators (ACER) with respect to the Framework Guideline on Demand Response. He presented the recommendations that have been put forward for enabling smaller assets to participate in commercial markets, along with outlining how the balancing markets are anticipated to change gradually in the upcoming years within the context of the Nordic Balancing market model. Alexander also reviewed some current obstacles to demand-side flexibility in the Nordic balancing markets.

Ending: Panel discussion

Finally, the panel discussion on standardisation and policy aspects around flexibility markets was joined by FlexCommunity members, where Isidoros Kokos (R&D professional at Intracom Telecom) and Torben Bach Pedersen (Professor at Aalborg University and Co-founder & CSO of Flexshape) joined the discussion. The panel was facilitated by Dr Prodromos Makris (Senior Researcher at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)), and the Norwegian participants (ENFO, NODES, and NVE) joined the discussion to share their insights on the need for standardised vs non-standardised products for flexibility markets. The panel also highlighted the auction (pay as clear) vs continuous (pay as bid) markets in the flexibility platforms. According to the panellist, market manipulation is not a big challenge for the flexibility market today; instead, the main challenge is more participation of flexibility suppliers and buyers in the market.

The idea of the event was to share, communicate and disseminate knowledge and try to see what better we can do when it comes to offering flexibility and the role of the flexibility market.

– Connecting national and international projects like this is an essential part of Smart Innovation Norway’s role, says Farrukh.

FLEXGRID Demo Day

The FLEXGRID project ends in September 2022, and the goal is to maximise the impact of project results on various actors in society. A final FLEXGRID event is planned for 26 September, which will focus on all the tools developed by the FLEXGRID project.

The final event will be both physically and online and open for everyone to join. To get the most out of the event, please reserve your physical seat in Halden and benefit from the opportunity of Smart

Here are the presentations from the webinar:

Selskap: Nettpartner AS, www.nettpartner.no
Hvem: Per Åge Nymann, Markedsdirektør
Antall ansatte: Underkant av 500

NCE Smart Energy Markets er i kjernen av de utfordringene mange bedrifter og offentlige virksomheter står midt i i dag. Vi skal bidra til det grønne skiftet og skape nye arbeidsplasser, og sikre at vi klarer å jobbe for nullutslipp, effektiv bruk av energi og finne nye bærekraftige løsninger. Her er Nettpartner et viktig bidrag inn i klyngen med sin kunnskap og kompetanse og et ønske om at vi skal finne nye løsninger. Her kan det være prosjekter som har fokus på utslippsfrie byggeplasser, men også andre utfordringer som går på energitilgjengelighet, sier Eli Haugerud, klyngeleder for NCE Smart Energy Markets.

Vi er svært glade for å ønske Nettpartner velkommen som ny partner i NCE Smart Energy Markets!

La oss introdusere klyngepartner Nettpartner med noen kjappe fakta fra Per Åge Nymann, Markedsdirektør:

• Hva gjør dere i selskapet, og hva er din rolle? Bygger og drifter samfundskritisk infrastruktur. Primært jobber vi med fremføring av elektrisk energi for Jernbane og Norske nettselskaper. Vi ønsker også å ta en rolle innen det grønne skifte. Da selvsagt innen vår kjernevirksomhet.
• Hvilke målsetninger har dere fremover? Vårt mål er å bli en solid aktør innen det grønne skifte.
• Hvorfor velger dere å bli partnere i NCE Smart Energy Markets, og hva er deres nåværende eller potensielle plass i økosystemet? En spennende klynge med fokus på fremtidig utvikling. Nettpartner er en energientreprenør. Primært er vi en utførende enhet som jobber på entrepriser mot aktuelle infrastruktureiere. I tillegg jobber vi med flere utviklingsprosjekter. Et prosjekt er elektrifisering av utslippsfrie byggeplasser.
• Hva slags type samarbeid kan være interessant for dere? Delta i diskusjons/utviklingsteam med vår kompetanse innen elektrisk infrastruktur. Ved behov bistå klyngen med vår utførelseskompetanse.
  
  

Renewable energy resources are the future, but at the same time uncertainties regarding predictions and availability arise. How can businesses, public institutions and private households relate to the transition in best possible way, and what possibilities are there in this new market accruing?

Watch the recording from the event “Energy flexibility – From customer to market”

We cannot promise to give you all the answers to the above mentioned and other related questions, but we can guarantee you interesting discussions and the latest news regarding these topics at our webinar «Energy flexibility – from customer to market» on September 20, 2022.

Through the Smart Innovation Norway cluster NCE Smart Energy Markets, cluster members have a unique access to knowledge, new research, and updates from the national and global energy market.

As partner in several energy-related EU projects, the company’s researchers are some of those who lead the way through the green transition, and they are eager to share their competence using webinars, workshops, and conferences.

– One of our areas of expertise is the energy domain in the interface between IT and electricity, and events like this are a great opportunity for Smart Innovation Norway to show that we are one of the leading Norwegian companies when it comes to EU research, says energy systems researcher Olav Henrik Skonnord.

He knows the Flexgrid project well after working on it for some years and is among the organizers of the webinar together with NCE Smart Energy Markets.

 – Lack of information

Energy flexibility can be a source to revenue for companies, still only a very few businesses utilize the possibilities that lie in the technology already developed. Why is that?

– The answer is complex and diverse, but one significant reason is lack of information. And that is something Smart Innovation Norway is in the position to do something about, says Skonnord.

World society must prioritize energy flexibility, that is undiscussable. Statnett has distinctly signalized the necessity of increasing the amount renewable energy resources as solar power and wind power, and as these resources seize a larger part of the power production, the more need of consumer response.

That means Statnett will be needing more energy flexibility in near future.

– When looking to our neighbour countries with less hydropower than Norway, the energy flexibility providers profits more because of larger amount of intermittent renewable energy resources, states Skonnord.

Automatically generated

So, energy flexibility is one of the crucial factors to a successful green shift. Then, why is the new technology so difficult to implement?

Social behaviour is part of the answer. It is extremely hard to change consumers’ habits if their comfort and effort in everyday life are threatened or reduced.

Also, so far no one has managed to develop a profitable business model utilizing the room of possibilities lying in the gap between costumer and market.

– Energy flexibility means that energy consumption is done at the most favourable time of the day. The flexibility must be automatically generated without requiring any actions from the customer, and an incentive to private households can be a discount on the electricity invoice, explains Skonnord.

Business opportunities

The efficiency of energy flexibility is according to the quantity and quality of energy flexibility. You need either a few huge companies or an enormous number of households that offer their flexibility, to have any effect. But how is the flexibility gathered and who collects it?

An aggregator like Enfo, whose Head of Sales and Commercialization, Morten Hagen, will be speaking at the webinar, have a huge potential when it comes to minor actors like private households or small business who want to offer their energy flexibility.

– Enfo makes business by being a trader of flexibility on behalf of several minor providers, Skonnord explains.

To enable households to be energy flexible, the buildings need multiple smart installations which can respond to the market at the same time.

Futurehome is a provider of such smart installations and is coordinating with actors like Enfo to make as many installations as possible react simultaneously when needed. Fridtjof Okkenhaug, Product Manager Energy og Program Manager R&D at Futurehome, is one of the speakers at the webinar.

– A crucial aspect for Futurehome, is to attain energy flexibility without compromising the customers’ comfort or requiring any manual interventions, comments Skonnord.

Large companies can be great providers of energy flexibility, and often they utilize the opportunity through an aggregator.  

Better understanding

Being aware of the energy situation and knowing the opportunities of flexibility are two essential factors to identify whether your business can make revenue on energy flexibility or not.

After attending Smart Innovation Norway’s webinar together with partners in the Flexgrid project and collaborative companies, the participants will have a better understanding of the topic.

In addition to the companies mentioned, Senior Consultant Hallstein Hagen and Gesa Milzer from the market operator NODES AS will be attending telling about how NODES has developed an integrated marked design and an integrated marketplace for flexibility trading at any level of the grid.  

Alexander Kellerer is an advisor at Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority and will update on the European Framework Guideline on Demand Response, and Stig Ødegaard Ottesen, Section Head Energy Market Research at Smart Innovation Norway will be presenting the ASKO electrifying project which focuses on how unnecessary grid reinforcement can be avoided in a way that is sustainable both for ASKO, who is electrifying of 125 trucks, and the grid company through technology and business innovation?

Being an active partner of the EU H2020 Flexgrid project, Smart Innovation Norway facilitates a forum where national and international research partners can integrate and establish collaborations with each other and industrial cluster members.

Smart Innovation Norway has a unique position to create sustainable green jobs from research. That is because the company is a partner and coordinator of several national and international research projects in combination with the company’s incubator and commercialization activities.

In June, Smart Innovation Norway, with its partners from the European H2020 project Flexgrid, facilitated the workshop on Forecasting in Energy. The participants included partners from the Flexgrid project, the Norwegian project Inthydro, and cluster member eSmart Systems from the NCE Smart Energy Markets.

Predicting energy parameters is extremely important to enable a Renewable Energy Sources (RES) based electricity system. The workshop topics are of enormous interest among academia, regulators, industry and citizens worldwide.

– The workshop was of great value to sharing knowledge on production and electricity price forecasting, says Farhan Farrukh, a researcher at Smart Innovation Norway, who facilitated the workshop.

The Horizon 2020 project Flexgrid is an EU-funded project about how grids in the future require an effective interaction between energy markets and electricity grid management systems to introduce new services and mitigate risks presented by renewable energy sources. The Flexgrid project hosted the workshop, where the agenda focused on solar PV production forecasting and the second part on the electricity market prices forecasting.

Production and peak forecasting

One part of the project’s research focuses on predicting tomorrow’s solar PV generation. The project partner University of Cyprus (UCY) has developed the algorithm using the latest research methodology of applied deep learning. The results of the project forecasting were shared for the Solar PV array installed on the campus of the University of Cyprus.

An interesting follow-up presentation from a commercial actor like eSmart Systems highlighted the unique practical details that need to be considered before taking these production forecasting algorithms to market. These suggestions involved topis around cloud architecture, deployment, and training practices to keep the costs down and obtain maximum benefit for the customer of such forecasting tools.

The use of electricity in society has changed and increased significantly over the last few decades leading to higher and higher peaks in the grid many times a day. Such fluctuations are challenging for the grid operator to manage because of cost and capacity problems.

– Our Flexgrid partner and grid operator bnNetze from Germany is the pilot site owner and a local distribution system operator (DSO) from Germany. BnNetze should not exceed certain limits because if they do, the overall network gets in trouble because of limited capacity. So, they get penalized, leading to increased electricity bills. In the end, it affects the end-consumer, explains Farrukh.

As part of the Flexgrid project, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and bnNetze have modelled the entire electricity network in the German town of Freiburg, used data inputs to train their algorithm, and used different approaches to try to predict when the peaks appear. At the workshop, they presented the results.

– Many commented that this was very important in the future. The work is significant because our electricity network has more and more renewable energy sources. We also have what we call distributed energy resources because they are distributed from people’s houses to industries to EV charging, and there are many fluctuations in energy demand and supply at the local level, says Farrukh.

Electricity market price forecasting

The Flexgrid project has developed an algorithm that predicts the electricity prices based on the historical data taken from the NordPool electricity market and the FinnGrid Balancing market. The model was trained for average market prices, but interesting results were observed on the impact of abrupt price changes due to Covid-19 and the recent Ukraine conflict. The University of Cyprus explained their approach, the data they used, the results they achieved, and the problems they faced while developing market price forecasting models.

Inthydro is a Norwegian Chinese collaboration. Smart Innovation Norway’s work on predicting these sudden changes in electricity price forecasting is one of the main objectives of the IntHydro project. At the workshop, Smart Innovation Norway’s senior advisor Professor Bernt Bremdal presented the project. The participants discussed results and shared experiences from both projects on predicting these sudden changes in electricity prices.

– The prediction of electricity market prices is highly relevant for today’s European market with high energy prices and the impact of this on our society as a whole. Based on these predictions, several actors can make optimal decisions and adjust their position more appropriately to reduce their underlying costs, which helps in a cost-effective and efficient electricity system, says Farrukh.

– The idea of the workshop was to disseminate each other’s knowledge and see what better we can do regarding forecasting in energy. Connecting national and international projects like this is essential to Smart Innovation Norway’s role, says Farrukh.

Flexgrid ends in September 2022, and the goal is to maximize project results’ impact on various actors of society. A second workshop is planned for September, focusing on the flexibility value chain and standardization activities around Flexibility markets.

FACTS ABOUT FLEXGRID:

The goal of FLEXGRID is to facilitate energy sector stakeholders (DSOs, TSOs, ESPs and RESPs) to:

1) easily and effectively create advanced Energy Services (ESs)

2) interact in a dynamic and efficient way with their environment (electricity grid) and the remaining of the stakeholders

3) automate and optimize the planning and the operation of their ESs.

In this way, FLEXGRID envisages secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable ESs.

This section clarifies the objectives of FLEXGRID by:

1. categorizing them as orthogonally as possible

2. presenting them accurately

3. revealing the interactions among them

Click to read more about Flexgrid!

CONTACT:

Farhan Farrukh,
Researcher Smart Energy Technologies

Email

Phone: +47 960 03 052