FlexPlan Project

The FlexPlan project aims at establishing a new grid planning methodology considering the opportunity to introduce new storage and flexibility resources in electricity transmission and distribution grids as an alternative to building new grid elements. This is in line with the goals and principles of the new EC package Clean Energy for all Europeans, which emphasizes the potential usage of flexibility sources in the phases of grid planning and operation as alternative to grid expansion. In sight of this, FlexPlan creates a new innovative grid-planning tool whose ambition is to go beyond the state of the art of planning methodologies, by including the following innovative features: integrated T&D planning, full inclusion of environmental analysis, probabilistic contingency methodologies replacing the N-1 criterion as well as optimal planning decision over several decades.

However, FlexPlan is not limited to building a new tool but it also uses it to analyse six regional cases covering nearly the whole European continent, aimed at demonstrating the application of the tool on real scenarios as well as at casting a view on grid planning in Europe till 2050. In this way, the FlexPlan project tries to answer the question of which role flexibility could play and how its usage can contribute to reduce planning investments yet maintaining (at least) the current system security levels. The project ends up formulating guidelines for regulators and for the planning offices of TSOs and DSOs.

The ELES company, as a member of an international consortium, is actively participating in almost all work packages. The project will last 36 months and will involve 13 partners from 8 countries.

Project Profile

• Duration: 2019–2022
• Project value: EUR 4.4 million
• Value of ELES's activities: EUR 127,156
• Source of funding: Horizon 2020 programme (European Commission)

• Partners: RSE (coordinator), EKC, KU LEUVEN, N-SIDE, R&D NESTER, SINTEF, TECNALIA, TU DORTMUND, VITO, TERNA, REN, ELES, ENEL Global Infrastructure; linked third parties: TERNA Rete Italia, e-Distribuzione
• Participating countries: Slovenia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Spain
• ELES’s role: participation in six Work-Packages with the emphasis on Work-Package 4 »Pan-European Scenarios at Target Years (2030-2040-2050)« and Work-Package 5 »Regional cases and assessment of advantages over traditional planning«
• Website: www.flexplan-project.eu
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flexplan-project/
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