FLEXIA

As a result of energy transition and decarbonisation policies promoted at national and European level, the need for energy flexibility in Europe is set to grow dramatically. 

The daily demand for energy flexibility in Europe is set to increase, with an estimated growth of 133% by 2030 and up to 250% by 2050. In this context, demand-side flexibility (DSF), particularly industrial demand-side flexibility (iDSF), represents a low marginal cost resource that is still largely untapped, despite the industrial sector being the third largest energy consumer in the EU. The implementation of iDSF could reduce peak load by between 4.7% and 7.1%, contributing to the stability of the energy system, but its development is currently hampered by economic, regulatory, technological and organisational barriers.  

In this context, FLEXIA aims to support the aggregation of different Energy Management Systems (EMSs) with the goal of optimising the flexibility of collaborative demand from industries in close physical proximity.  

The FLEXIA Knowledge Hub will serve as a single point of reference for a wide range of information and resources, including FLEXIA-Assistant, an innovative approach to assessing the flexibility potential of industries and performing an initial validation of their accessibility in different flexibility markets, using a standardised metric. Finally, the reliability of energy distribution increasingly depends on the cybersecurity of the physical and digital infrastructure used. Consequently, a robust cybersecurity posture is essential, not only for the resilience of energy distribution systems, but also to ensure compliance with European regulations, such as European Directive 2022/2555 (NIS2). 

FLEXIA solutions will be analysed and supported at a pilot site in Storo (Province of Trento, Italy), in a collaboration between EMS developers, DSOs, industries and research centres (in the energy and digital sectors), laying the foundations for the future use of aggregated industrial EMSs for local grid flexibility services.  

The Consortium

FLEXIA is developed by a multidisciplinary consortium of six Italian partners:   

• Maps S.p.A. (Coordinator) 
• Consorzio Elettrico di Storo, Società Cooperativa | CEDIS
• Fondazione Bruno Kessler involving 2 research Centres: Sustainable Energy & Cybersecurity 
• HYDROALP S.r.l.
• INNOVA Group S.r.l. 
• RINA Consulting S.p.A. 

THE ROLE OF FBK

In FLEXIA, the role of the Sustainable Energy Centre is primarily to gather and structure the operational, technological, and strategic needs of end users, actively involving stakeholders to translate their needs into shared design requirements. Technological integration schemes will be defined to support the testing and performance evaluation phases of the developed solutions, ensuring effective coordination between TSOs (Transmission System Operators) and DSOs (Distribution System Operators). 

At the same time, the Centre will be involved in developing a decision support tool to assess the “flexibility readiness indicator” of a given industry, to promote informed choices and support the adoption of the proposed flexibility solutions. 

Last but not least, the Centre will support the project’s dissemination and communication activities, promoting its results and impact, with a specific focus on training and the active involvement of users, such as policy makers, companies involved and technology providers.