STREAM: Streaming flexibility to the power system
The ambition of the STREAM project is the creation of an innovative and robust flexibility ecosystem on the low voltage (LV) grid side of existing power markets. The success of the STREAM ecosystem relies on the benefit realized through the new business models developed in STREAM, built upon local LV flexibility markets and novel barter-like mechanism. STREAM will connect data, technologies, stakeholders and markets on the one hand, and will facilitate the flexibility provision through open data sharing to enable other citizen services designed through a User-centric Approach to improve their acceptance and uptake.
To achieve its ambitious goals, STREAM brought together a consortium of all relevant actors to capture the entire flexibility value chain within STREAM ecosystem from end users, energy communities (EnC) to service providers, flexibility services providers (FSP), market operators, DSOs, and TSO, complemented by technology and research partners as shown below. The latter will supply knowledge and technology in a form of STREAM tools that will enable the realization of STREAM ecosystem.
The key building blocks of the STREAM Ecosystem are as follows:
• Secure and sovereign energy data assets sharing & data-driven energy- and other service design: open data- driven infrastructures facilitating data assets sharing, exchange and compensation to support the integration of various devices and technologies (IoT, sensors, smart metering, etc.) aimed toto offer energy flexibility services to grid operators, aggregators, and energy and non-energy services to individual B2B and B2C consumers and/or local energy consumption communities at the interplay among electricity and other domains (es e-mobility) and to connect technical and non-technical services via a single data infrastructure;
• Cross-group inclusivity: encompass different stakeholders via a user-centric approach, enable different levels of stakeholder involvement (technical / economic involvement), and seamless cross-integration of stakeholders from consumers / end-users to aggregators of flexibility services using digitalization of data and devices;
• Local LV power market design (‘sMART’’): ensure a seamless integration of local LV power market stakeholders – consumers / end-users, energy communities, prosumers, aggregators and market & flexibility service providers, to reflect the local conditions (power demand, available capacity, etc.) via a standardized device register as an entering point of a given local power market ensuring standardized pre-qualification process;
• Wholesale power market integration: ensure a seamless integration of developed local power market designs into the wholesale power and ancillary service market structure to ensure that full benefits of STREAM Ecosystem are utilized on all levels of power markets – from consumers / end-users, aggregators, market and flexibility service providers, distribution system operators (DSO) and transmission system operators (TSO). Eurelectric defines the role of Flexibility Service Providers (FSP) to include independent flexibility aggregators, suppliers, and Energy Communities (EnC);
• Support decision making: Ensure the regulators, policy makers, DSOs and other relevant stakeholders, will be informed about STREAM innovations, especially regarding flexibility utilization, local markets design and flexibility service potential to solve grid issues and that all of this is taken into account in future grid planning to avoid costly grid reinforcements.
EMOTION will be involved in the Italian pilot site which motivation is due to high shares of intermittent RES in the Terni’s area and increased electrification of demand, significant power network congestions take place in the ASM operated electricity grid. They may be ideally dealt with without any grid reinforcement by utilization of cross-sector flexibility sources and community-level flexible consumption aggregation, created by transport/e-mobility and water “flexibilized” assets synergy, including flexibility from smart home devices. By unlocking the flexibility and using it for new DSOs services, we create new value for individual and/or flexible EnC members and for stakeholders supporting energy and other citizen services. A fleet of 12 EVs as made available by EMOTION for the project demonstrations, together with the smart charging stations, already deployed by EMOTION will be participating to the project. EMOTION, as eMobility Service Provider (eMSP) and as Charging Point Operator (CPO), will setup, manage and operate a “flexible consumption” Energy Community-On-The-Move (COM).