It consists of a secondary substation including upgraded automation and remote metering capabilities, fault detection and advanced meter infrastructure. It will improve energy balance, energy metering, safety and efficiency, enabling to transform the classical LVdistribution switchgear,with workers’ safety and assets protection as main features, into a smart LVswitchgear and control gear assembly with advanced functionalities ready for future network challenges. Furthermore, this SS includes the development of a new compact smart distribution transformer, with an On-Load Tap Changer (OLTC), able to regulate the voltage automatically to cope with the fluctuations generated by new loads and variable DG in the LV grid, while compensates voltages instabilities in the MV network.

The new AMI systems will pay greater attention to the needs of an increasingly informed and "digital" consumer, while reducing the OPEX for distribution companies through an innovative mechanism allowing the identification of the LV feeders of all the connected smart meters. This new generation of smart meters will count with an interface to provide real-time information to the users about their electricity demand, and act accordingly.

The objective of the proposed development is to capitalize the studies carried out on the low performance of current protection systems in distribution networks with high penetration of renewable energies. This way, within FLEXIGRID, innovative protection devices for the MV grid will be developed to overcome the bidirectional energy flow challenges introduced by the increasing penetration of variable generation in the network.

The Energy Box is a solution for Smart Grid and micro-grid management developed by CIRCE. It is a multi-purpose concentrator for the operation in various scenarios of advanced electrical networks, DER and Smart Grids. In addition to its versatile communication capabilities, it contains an embedded computer that provides processing capacity to implement distributed computing: capture and storage information, execution of algorithms and control of the installation among others. During the project, the current prototype of EB will be improved to be able to retrofit existing Secondary Substations, enhancing its assets control capacity.

This development provides its user with both information and control on the MV network to operate it in real time ensuring the security of supply. To this end, fault detection/location and energy supply restoration (self-healing) algorithms will be upgraded and included in a software module. This module will be capable of detecting a fault in the distribution grid and send orders to open and close the pertinent breakers to isolate the affected area in a milliseconds range.

This self-contained module consists of a set of forecasting algorithms to accurately predict energy generation, demand and electricity price. It works based on registered measurements by sensors and other IEDs installed along the MV network. Furthermore, this module also counts with an optimization algorithm able to take advantage of the forecasting results and suggest grid operation orders aiming to balance the demand curve and maximizing the integration of renewable generation without compromising security of supply and grid stability.

This software module includes mechanisms to recognize congestion situations and a managed them from a commercial flexibility perspective. These algorithms will enable peak shaving processes to maximise the value for the customer through demand aggregation and using market information in evolving tariff environments. Moreover, it will include several measures to reduce the amount of energy purchased from the utility company during peak demand hours, thus reducing grid congestion.

This innovative software exploits the thermal storage capacity of existing water heaters and building spaces to dispatch desired amounts of flexibility in a cost-effective manner without compromising occupant comfort or disrupting daily routines and operations. This software will provide models, techniques and optimisation algorithms to provide a smart Virtual Thermal Energy Storage-coupled heating solution combining optimally Thermal Energy Storage and Power to Heat technologies.

FUSE aims to be an open source platform that enables the integration of devices at the edge by fully exploiting data available from local and distributed energy resources to build added-value services for DSOs & energy stakeholders. The integration of data in FUSE is done through the adapters. Those components simplify the pre-management of data for harmonizing the development of service process.