Official launch of Interflex at Strijp-S with Enexis

 

This month, the Interflex project became a reality with the official opening of the 26 charging points for electric vehicles and a battery of 250kW at Strijp-S in Eindhoven. Want to see it with your own eyes? Here is a video showing the actual charging points and the 250kW battery.

 

What is Interflex?

 

Interflex is a €23 million project initiated by the EU Commission as part of the Horizon 2020 initiative. The goal is to explore pathways to adapt and modernise the electric distribution system. Sympower is taking part in the Dutch Demonstrator, lead by grid operator Enexis and taking place at Strijp-S in Eindhoven.

 

Interflex is a great opportunity for Sympower to showcase the potential of a flexibility market at a more local level. This demonstrator will be a perfect reference to show the technical, economical and contractual usability of such an integrated market.

 

We will investigate how local energy storage and electric vehicle charging points s can help solve local congestion management for Distribution System Operators (DSOs) like Enexis.

 

Building a marketplace to trade flexibility

 

Together with Enexis, ElaadNL, TNO, Croonwolter&dros and Jedlix, Sympower has in the past months built a live marketplace to trade the flexibility of distributed assets to prevent congestion on the grid. As the objective of this project is to build a replicable model, we have built the marketplace following the Universal Smart Energy Framework (USEF). USEF delivers a market model for the trading and commoditisation of energy flexibility, and the architecture, tools and rules to make it work effectively.

 

Smart charging

 

For Interflex, Sympower developed business logic to optimise the charging pattern of the 250kW battery to make maximum use of sustainable energy and provide flexibility to Enexis when requested: discharging the battery when there is stress on the grid and charging the battery when the sun shines or electricity prices are low.

 

Dynamic capacity

 

The 250kW battery also has a dynamic capacity, meaning that capacity can be adapted based on the grid load. When load is high, the capacity can be lowered slowing down the charging and discharging power preventing overload. Outside peak moments, the battery capacity can be increased enabling faster (dis)charging.

 

Moving forward, smart charging and dynamic capacity will be tested and assessed as alternatives for congestion management for DSOs. We will also be looking at different timelines for flexibility trading, from day-ahead to intra-day as well as assessing the scalability of the system we built from a technical, commercial and contractual perspective.

 

Interested to know more?

 

Sympower is happy to share lessons learned and experience with DSOs or other market players interested in leveraging flexibility to solve congestion.

 

You can also find the video here illustrating the marketplace mechanism.