ELEXIA will develop/upgrade validated tools for planning and managing integrated energy systems in different conditions and will integrate and combine energy systems across vectors and sectors towards a cost-optimised as well as flexible and resilient energy system of systems. A Digital Services Platform will host the energy management and planning services and will foster flexibility and sector coupling. A System Planning Toolbox will be developed and deployed to support effective sector coupling at local sites considering different scenarios, operational details, possibly conflicting interests of multiple local actors, and security of supply. An Energy Management Systems will be built and deployed for flexible, cost-optimised, and resilient operation of sector coupled local sites including forecasting, digital twins, optimization, control, monitoring, assessing operating conditions, predicting anomalous operation, and preventing occurrence of breakdowns. ELEXIA will demonstrate the use of planning and operational tools in a one-stop-shop, modular and open, digital platform at TRL7–8. It will demonstrate the benefits of sector integration at local / national level in three different geographical, climate and economic conditions in Europe: in an industrial port environment in Portugal, in an urban-city hub environment in Denmark, and in an industrial-urban-residential environment in Norway. ELEXIA will assess environmental, economic and social sustainability, will deliver a methodology for CAPEX / OPEX and value creation, and will focus on policy and governance. It will put focus on stakeholder engagement and societal acceptance and will ensure effort towards future exploitation and replication. ELEXIA will establish and demonstrate realistic and concrete pathways to ultimately achieve independence of fossil fuels by harnessing the latent flexibility of the energy system through integration, data-intelligence, and planning, working towards the 2050 European goals.

Predictability and flexibility are key enablers to increase CSP penetration in the energy mix by a) increasing dispatchability b) making CSP less/not reliant on subsidies c) supporting stable grid operation d) enabling operators to access new revenue streams (electricity trading, ancillary services). Today CSP plants with molten salt storage only partly achieve these objectives. Key enabling technologies to be demonstrated and introduced in the market are 1) design and operation of molten salt once-through steam generator – This will allow fully flexible plant operation; 2) design and implementation of integrated weather forecasting and dispatch optimization – This will allow optimal management of the energy storage to maximize revenues while respecting constraints/commitments (e.g. to the grid). Towards 1), an innovative design approach is proposed, integrating process and equipment design with dynamic simulation of the system. Proven technologies in separate fields (molten salt ; once-through steam generator ; optimum control) will be for the first time integrated and demonstrated. Towards 2), different approaches to DNI forecasting (direct; mesoscale models) will be integrated to extend geographical coverage and improve reliability. Dispatch optimization under conditions of uncertainty (weather forecast) and perturbations (e.g. grid support requests) will be developed. Furthermore, automatic plant performance characterization by machine learning will be implemented to ensure a real optimum is achieved. For succesfull market introduction, a down-scale pilot will be realized. Here, integrated operation of once-through steam generator, weather forecast and dispatch optimization will be demonstrated. CSP will undergo large growth in developing markets, where grid constraints and market liberalization will play a role. Developint these key-enabling technologies will put european industries in the position to compete at the forefront in the market worldwide.