The project, which is part of the biggest EU Research and Innovation program, Horizon 2020, will run for three years. During this time, 20 project partners will investigate the interactions between flexibilities provided by energy market players and the distribution grid, with a particular focus on energy storage, smart charging of electric vehicles, demand response, islanding, grid automation and the integration of different energy carriers (gas, heat, electricity).

The three regional demonstrators run by E.ON will be located in Germany and Sweden. The German demonstrator will be implemented by Avacon, a German grid operator belonging to the E.ON group. Avacon, located in Lower-Saxony, will manage a centralized platform of flexibilities and distributed energy resources in a rural area between Helmstedt and Salzgitter to use energy where it is generated in order to relieve the distribution grid.

The first Swedish demonstrator of E.ON Sverige is located in Malmö. It investigates energy carrier integration using the heat inertia of buildings as a flexibility measure to achieve a more optimized and environmentally friendly production in a distributed energy system.

A second Swedish demonstrator of E.ON Sverige, based in the Skåne region (Southern Sweden), is exploring ways of operating part of the distribution grid on a stand-alone basis (islanding), supported by the client through a “peer to peer” approach, while assessing the benefit of advanced control of local energy systems for the DSO.

The project findings will allow the consortium members to replicate the demonstrated solutions and business models. The results are to provide an incentive for other services providers or investors to test and replicate the developed business models to further develop advanced monitoring, local energy control and flexibility services at EU level.