With the dramatic growth of renewables, now is the time to revise the VPP concept. VPPs need to support not only the promotion of intermittent renewables (RES) but also the integration of all Distributed Energy Resources (DER) into the full scope of grid operations. Such a leap raises challenges: optimal combination of DER and RES in a new generation of VPPs is needed to jointly provide grid supportive flexibility with slow reaction time known from day-head and intra-day markets, as well as real-time reaction to provide fast frequency and inertial response and dynamic-phasor driven voltage control ancillary services. In a nutshell, in a DER-based power electronics-driven network VPPs need to play all the roles that synchronous machines play in a traditional system. Flexibility can be provided by going beyond electrochemical storage and exploring opportunities offered by Power2X or inverters. Demand Side Management or low-cost solutions such as Power2Heat could be deployed in a neighbourhood expanding the concept of VPPs to the concept of a Local Energy Communities. EdgeFLEX links technical solutions to societal expectations. Short reaction times can be addressed by 5G-powered edge clouds linking dispersed devices in near real-time. In this respect, a new concept of VPPs, with communications corresponding to multiple layers of dynamics, becomes possible. EdgeFLEX proposes a new architecture for VPPs deploying such a multi-layer solution, paving the way for a fully renewable energy system. VPPs are brought to a new level, enabling them to interact on markets offering various ancillary services to System Operators. EdgeFLEX will develop this next generation VPP concept and demonstrate it in the context of 3 field trials and lab tests. It will explore innovative optimisations, financial tools and business scenarios for VPPs and assess the economic and societal impact. It will actively work to remove barriers by contributing to standards and European level regulation.

CyberSEAS (Cyber Securing Energy dAta Services) ambition is to improve the resilience of energy supply chains, protecting them from disruptions that exploit the enhanced interactions and extended involvement models of stakeholders and consumers in complex attack scenarios, characterised by the presence of legacy systems and the increasing connectivity of data feeds. It has 3 strategic objectives: 1) countering the cyber risks related to highest impact attacks against EPES; 2) protecting consumers against personal data breaches and attacks; and 3) increasing the security of the Energy Common Data Space. All three objectives are equally important, since cyber-criminals are shifting tactics to favour multi-stage attacks in which stealing sensitive data is a precondition for the real attack, and enables them to maximise damage and profits (while traditionally infrastructure cyber-attacks used to be direct attacks to the machinery and typically targeted control systems, not data). Threat actors, especially large ones such as nation states, also carry out complex attacks that leverage supply chain dependencies, and this trend continues to grow, as highlighted in the July 2020 analysis by the Atlantic Council. Likewise, with the transition to scenarios where users are proactively involved, prosumer data is becoming more and more sensitive. To achieve these objectives, CyberSEAS delivers an open and extendable ecosystem of 30 customisable security solutions providing effective support for key activities, and in particular: risk assessment; interaction with end devices; secure development and deployment; real-time security monitoring; skills improvement and awareness; certification, governance and cooperation. CyberSEAS solutions are validated through experimental campaigns consisting of 100+ attack scenarios, tested in 3 labs before moving out to one of 6 piloting infrastructures across 6 European countries. Out of the 30 solutions, 20 will reach TRL8+ and 10 TRL7.

The energy systems of 2025 will be based on increasing levels of RES penetration and DSO’s will need new insight into how their networks are performing to optimise their operations financially. At the same time, the 5G mobile networks will be deployed by 2025 offering low latency, high availability services enabling data driven control. The evolution of the energy sector is increasingly focused on energy as a service. What DSOs now need is to accelerate their ability to introduce innovations, such as those based on the sharing economy, by themselves using services increasing their flexibility to adapt and reducing their need for fixed investments. SOGNO will address this challenge by combining the application of deep intelligence techniques, industry grade data analysis and visualisation tools, advanced sensors, an advanced power measurement unit and 5G based ICT to provide fine grained visibility and control of both MV and LV power networks using end to end automation in a virtualised environment. Our results are provided as turnkey services, validated in DSO field trials (to TRL level 6) preparing them for market introduction beginning shortly after the project ends. An Open API will be provided to enable third parties to market their services in our eco-system creating further market growth. Regulatory and standards changes needed to enable the deployment of advanced techniques will be prepared by the project. Ethical business models will support the market introduction of turnkey services. Commercialisation of the project results, as energy services, will result in disruptive change in the DSO energy market enabling breakthroughs in the speed and cost effectiveness of DSO large scale roll out of automation and growth in the energy services market in Europe and beyond. The SOGNO vision will unlock a new service-oriented market making Europe’s energy sector the most advanced and open in the world.

Living in a safe and secure society is a fundamental human need. The security of critical infrastructures must be maintained so that supplies of power, water or other resources are secured. Modern critical infrastructures are increasingly complex and they are turning into Cyber-Physical Infrastructures because ICT is growing in importance in infrastructure management. The SUCCESS project will develop an overarching approach to threat and countermeasure analysis with special focus on the vulnerabilities introduced by Smart Meters. The main challenge is to create the conditions in Europe for the future energy system to be as reliable as todays. Starting from a security by design approach and placing resiliency and survivability in focus, a new joint design of Energy Infrastructure and ICT is proposed. Following on the research results, an implementation approach is pursued based on the definition of a New-generation Open Real-time smart Meter (NORM) as a key building block. NORM aims to secure the end nodes of the energy system while providing innovative services in a customer centric grid. At systems level, a cloud-approach, based on double virtualization, is proposed. SUCCESS will provide concrete guidelines to support the design of energy systems and linked communications networks to guide short, medium and long term initiatives. Countermeasures will include specifications and open source software for Next Generation Open Real time smart Meters and Security Monitoring Centres at DSO and Pan-European levels, secure communications solutions using NFV, LTE and 5G technologies complemented by data privacy studies to ensure the acceptability of the results by consumers. Trials will be run in Ireland, Italy and Romania. As a result, new business opportunities for energy providers, SME’s and start-ups will generate economic growth in the energy and ICT sectors. SUCCESS combines the dedicated work of leading research and commercial organisations in these sectors.

NEVERFLAT aims to develop and demonstrate in real-life settings an innovative, efficient, and user-friendly pervasive low-cost smart bi-directional charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs), directly contributing to a specific strategic objective of the 2Zero Partnership - developing affordable, inclusive, user-friendly charging infrastructure concepts and technologies that include vehicle and grid interaction. It will bring crucial advancements in core hardware and software applied infrastructure innovation (using cutting edge technologies like ML predictive models and simulation, or WBG semiconductors), optimization in deployment and placement of the novel charging solutions, their strategic orchestration improving operative performance, grid stability and RES utilization, and social and business model innovations and incentivisation involving relevant SSH expertise in the consortium, together with major industry partners, innovative SMEs and research organizations. The complete integrated and deployed charging solution will be validated in extensive operational urban and peri-urban environments on pilot sites in Germany, Romania and Spain, showcasing the potential for widespread massive adoption, user acceptance and seamless coverage interoperable across European country borders, contributing to removing barriers to EV user acceptability.