An innovative flexibility management and optimization framework for demand side aggregators

The new geopolitical conditions at the EC level (backed by the very recent REPowerEU regulation) as well as the vast spread of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) [2] pose new, major challenges for the electricity networks in Europe. Solutions for the optimization of local energy systems are required, enabling direct integration with distributed generation and demand as well as enhancement and optimal coordination of local flexibility resources. Such integrated solutions shall optimally combine distributed generation, demand, storage, electric vehicles and interconnections with heterogeneous local energy networks and introduce them into holistic optimization strategies to ensure operational and economic optimization of local energy systems. The main innovation of the proposed approach is the incorporation of actual and real-time data as retrieved from the physical assets as well as the application of state-of-the-art, ML-based optimization techniques for intra-portfolio optimization as well as participation in local flexibility markets. The proposed framework has been developed and deployed and is now under extensive testing at a first-of-a-kind, mid-scale demo site in Xanthi, Greece