Platone
Platone is a H2020 European Project, which aims at defining new approaches to increase the observability of renewable energy resources and of the less predictable loads while exploiting their flexibility. Platone will develop advanced management platforms to unlock grid flexibility and realize an open and non-discriminatory market, linking users, aggregators, and operators. The solutions developed in the project will be tested in European field trials as well as in the ACS laboratory.
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Platone is a four-year project which started in September 2019 aiming at combining advanced research activities in the area of flexibility management systems, information technology and blockchain to develop a complete new level of market-integration for customers to system operators.
The main outcome of the project is a set of layered platforms which will integrate the needs of system operators, aggregators and end users, while respecting the regulatory framework.
The layered platforms will consist of:
- A blockchain-based platform, for accessing generators’ and customers’ flexibilities
- A local DSO platform, to maintain system integrity fostering confidence in flexibility operations
- An upper layer, with a blockchain-based open market platform, to link local systems to the TSO, boosting global efficiency
The project partners are from industry and academia, from Germany (AVACON, RWTH, BAUM), Italy (RSE, ACEA, SIEMENS, APIO, ARETI, ENGINEERING), Greece (DEDDIE/HEDNO, NTUA) and Belgium (EDSO). The consortium brings together expertise in different fields, including distribution grid management and regulations, energy markets, information technology, and blockchain, which together will contribute to realizing the Platone goal.
Platone Vision
The main concept that Platone envisions is the need to involve customers in unlocking flexibility by participating directly in the open market. In Platone , all possible actors should participate in a peer-to-peer (P2P) and non-discriminatory market model to exploit local flexibility. To achieve this vision, the platforms developed in Platone would link customers, aggregators, and marketplaces, allowing the DSO’s grid to react to specific market signals.
Platone Field Trials
The Platone platforms will be deployed and tested in the three different pilots located in Italy (ARETI), Germany (AVACON) and Greece (HEDNO). RWTH will participate in the German field trial, with the goal of demonstrating a balance mechanism in a local area that is able to interact with a central grid control requesting DSO-owned flexibility actions. The coordination between decentralized and centralized flexibility management systems will prove the capability of decoupling low and medium voltage networks by handling energy supply and exchanging energy in bulk packages rather than in real time.
RWTH will also support the field trial in Greece, providing updated version of the low-cost PMU for the validation of operation in extreme weather conditions.
Role of RWTH in the project
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 864300.
Announcements
The Platone Project presented its nearly four years of activities during its final conference on June 28. The conference was held at the Faculty and included a keynote address by Luis Cunha, Director of European Policies and Projects at E-Redes and Vice Chair of ETIP SNET. The event also included a panel discussion on open source solutions to promote the energy transition. Participants also had the opportunity to learn about the project's Key Exploitable Results (KERs).
Further Informations: https://platone-h2020.eu/Events/1053/Platone-Final-Conference-%E2%80%9CDigitalize-DSOs-to-Uenlock-Flexibility
General Assembly Meeting #5 took place on 30.03.2022.
Advisory Board Meeting #2 took place on 31.03.2022.
Deliverables submitted to EC end February 2022:
D2.2 "PlatOne Platform requirements and reference architecture (v2)"
D4.3 "Algorithm for ancillary services"
D5.5 "Use Case 2 Demonstration Report"
D9.5 "Project Management Plan Version 3"
Platone reached the half-way point of its 4-year duration.
MS9 " All activities allow for all use case field testing " was reached by the German demo.
The following deliverables were submitted:
D1.3 Overview of regulatory aspects that impact the solutions tested in the demos in European countries
D5.4 Use Case 1 Demonstration Report
D6.5 Periodic report on lessons-learned (v2)
D7.3 CBA methodology
D8.3 High quality videos explaining the approaches in the 3 trials
D8.4 Intermediate report on the stakeholders engagement, exploitation, dissemination, communication and standardization activities
D8.5 Exploitation and Marketing Plan for the involvement of partners and future customers (v1)
The 1st Periodic Report was accepted by the EC and the result of the 1st Periodic Review is that the project implementation is satisfactory.
Under the leadership of areti, Platone has since April 2020 led the BRIDGE Action 7 to provide an update to the next Harmonised Electricity Market Role Model.
The Harmonised Electricity Market Role Model (HEMRM) is a reference document for the European electricity sector which is updated periodically by ENTSO-E ebIX and EFET. The BRIDGE HEMRM is built on the work done in state-of-the-art H2020 projects dealing with the roles of traditional and new market participants and their interactions in a secure, flexible, and decarbonized energy system.
The contributing projects count CoordiNet, INTERRFACE, EuSysFlex, GOFLEX, FEVER and Platone, who were asked to elaborate on the difference between the ENTSO-E, ebIX and EFET HEMRM and the electricity market model applied in the projects with respect to flexibility markets and data management. The differential analysis gave birth to 9 new roles, as well as extensions of the existing roles, all of which has been reviewed by the BRIDGE working groups on data management and regulation.
The European Commission has welcomed the work coordinated by areti and Platone and entrusted Platone to invite the four DSO associations, E.DSO, CEDEC, GEODE and Eurelectric together with the representative of the TSOs, ENTSO-E, to discuss the next HEMRM update on this basis.
The work coordinated by Platone and areti under BRIDGE, is an important step input for the shaping of the future electricity market. The activity furthermore shows how BRIDGE can contribute to the debate beyond the topic of innovation, and bears witness to the Commissions commitment to extracting the lessons learned from the European R&I activities.
The 3rd General Assembly of project Platone has taken place.
A Platone advisory meeting took place on 05.11.2020.
The first Platone General Assembly took place at the premises of ACEA, the Roman electricity Distribution System Operator.
Platone is a 4 year H2020 project led by ACS. The consortium includes E.DSO, equipment and software manufacturers and DSOs in Italy, Greece and Germany.
Volatile renewable energy sources in combination with less predictable consumption patterns call for higher levels of observability and exploitation of flexibility. While these two challenges are traditionally treated with separate means, Platone proposes an innovative approach to a joint data management for both. Fully respecting the existing regulatory framework, a layered set of platforms will allow to meet the needs of system operators, aggregators and end users. A blockchain based platform is the access layer to generators’ and customers’ flexibilities able to break traditional access barriers by providing certified measures to all the players. In conjunction, certified data and signals will be used for an innovative DSO platform to locally maintain system integrity fostering confidence in flexibility operations. An upper layer will implement a new concept of blockchain-based open market platform to link the local system to the TSO domains and enhance the overall system cost efficiency. Because flexibility means customer involvement, Platone puts the grid users at the centre, investigates their needs and expectations and uses the underlying blockchain to unlock the potentials of higher dynamics of response. The platforms will be tested in 3 large pilots in Europe and analysed in cooperation with a large research initiative in Canada. Thanks to strategic partnerships and a unique consortium structure with an excellent network, Platone can offer an unprecedented effort of dissemination and exploitation with focus on DSO experts and final users.