The outcomes of the EU-SysFlex Project

18.02.2022Blog

Flexibility is required from many technologies and processes to operate a safe, secure, efficient and low-carbon European power system. The project showcased valuable approaches that need the right investment signals.

After 4 years and 4 months the EU-SysFlex European project is coming to an end. This large H2020 funded research project brought together 34 partners over 15 European countries and 7 industrial-scale demonstrations. My thoughts and a special thanks to the whole team for its involvement and support. Our engineers and researchers delivered the significant results expected in spite of the crisis. Our industrial size demonstrations have showcased the significant potential of innovative technologies and tools to support the power system transitioning to high levels of variable renewable generation, critical to achieve the Net-Zero ambition.

8 key recommendations to deliver the future low-carbon flexible European Power System. The European Power System Flexibility Roadmap is the final deliverable of the project. It summarizes the findings of its 9 technical Work Packages, from WP2 to WP10, and draws main outcomes from the various activities carried out over these last four years, from technical dynamic simulations to field tests, from economic analysis to data management, including  innovative system operators tools. 8 key messages come out of this comprehensive work:

  1. As we transition to a European power system with a high share of variable renewables significant technical scarcities in flexibility appear.
  2. Enhanced system services capability will be required from a wide range of technologies, from existing and new resources, to mitigate these technical scarcities and ensure the required system flexibility.
  3. Existing market structures do not guarantee the required flexibility and volume of system services to address the identified technical scarcities and support investment in low carbon generation.
  4. New flexibility products and market evolution are required to ensure the provision of sufficient capability to mitigate the identified technical scarcities.
  5. New system operator decision support tools with enhanced forecasting, state estimation and optimisation capabilities are required for the future power system to integrate new flexibilities.
  6. Efficient coordination between the transmission system operator (TSO) and distribution system operator (DSO) is critical, given the significant share of future resources connecting to the distribution network.
  7. Aggregation of decentralised resources enables access to a wider range of flexibility options, including the participation of residential customers, and a range of distribution-connected assets.
  8. A customer-centric approach including standardised access to data and data-driven services is crucial to guarantee stakeholder and information system interoperability for effective data exchanges at the European level.

The impact of the project matches the European ambitions for low-carbon electricity. The project showcased many valuable flexibility solutions required to operate the power system with high levels of variable generation. However, incentives in terms of market and regulation need to provide adequate long-term signals to allow their deployment. With the right mix of technologies in generation and storage in addition to new flexibilities in the demand side and networks, we will tackle the challenges arising in the European Power System as we transition towards 2030 energy targets and beyond to net-zero.

 

Written by: Marie-Ann EVANS, EDF R&D, Technical Manager of EU-SysFlex

EDF is the largest producer of renewable electricity in Europe. Two priorities are at the heart of its research: preparing the flexible and adaptable electrical systems and grids of tomorrow and consolidating and developing competitive and low-carbon energy generation mixes.

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Disclaimer: blog entries reflect individual views of the author(s) that may not reflect official positions or communication of the project / project consortium.