Month: March 2025
Enhancing OPENTUNITY’s Standardization Strategy: A New Action Plan
Standardization is a key enabler of interoperability, scalability, and long-term impact for innovations in smart grids, flexibility markets, and energy digitalization. As part of OPENTUNITY’s commitment to contributing to the European and international standardization landscape, OPENTUNITY partner UNE is developing a new version of the Standardization Activities Document.
Why Standardization Matters for OPENTUNITY
Standardization ensures that the solutions and methodologies developed within OPENTUNITY can be widely adopted and integrated into existing frameworks. By aligning with standardization bodies and contributing to the evolution of relevant standards, OPENTUNITY can help shape a coherent regulatory and technical framework for the future of flexibility markets and digital energy systems.
What’s New in the Standardization Activities Document?
The revised document builds upon the key conclusions of Deliverable D2.2, which analyzed the current standardization landscape relevant to OPENTUNITY’s objectives. It provides:
- A detailed action plan for the next steps in engagement with standardization bodies (Subtask 8.1.1) and contributions to standardization (Task 7.5).
- Guidelines for disseminating OPENTUNITY’s results in a way that supports future standardization activities.
- A timeline and responsibilities to ensure effective coordination of standardization-related efforts.
Next Steps: Driving Standardization Forward
With this updated document, OPENTUNITY will focus on:
- Strengthening collaboration with technical standardization bodies at European and international levels.
- Ensuring alignment between OPENTUNITY’s developments and existing or emerging standards.
- Maximizing impact by integrating OPENTUNITY’s innovations into industry-wide practices and regulatory frameworks.
By actively engaging in standardization, OPENTUNITY aims to create lasting value for the energy transition, digital grids, and flexibility markets. Stay tuned for more updates on our progress!
Download the latest version of the Standardization Activities Document here:
OPENTUNITY at the BRIDGE General Assembly 2025
OPENTUNITY is proud to participate in the BRIDGE General Assembly 2025, an essential gathering that brings together key players from EU-funded projects in the fields of smart grids, energy storage, islands, and digitalization. This annual event serves as a platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and strategic alignment to accelerate the European energy transition.
What is BRIDGE?
BRIDGE is an initiative by the European Commission that unites Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects working on smart grids, demand response, energy communities, and digitalization. By fostering collaboration between projects, BRIDGE helps create a coherent regulatory, technical, and market framework that supports innovation and integration across the European energy landscape.
Through dedicated working groups and task forces, BRIDGE facilitates discussion on key topics such as:
- Regulatory framework for new market models.
- Data management and interoperability in digitalized energy systems.
- Business models for flexibility and storage services.
- Consumer and citizen engagement strategies.
The BRIDGE General Assembly: Objectives and Key Discussions
The BRIDGE General Assembly is a key event that brings together all participating projects to:
- Share project results and best practices.
- Discuss policy and regulatory developments impacting the energy transition.
- Align efforts across projects to maximize impact.
- Identify synergies between different initiatives.
This year’s assembly focused on scaling up innovative solutions and reinforcing the role of digitalization and flexibility markets in achieving Europe’s clean energy goals.
Why OPENTUNITY’s Participation Matters
OPENTUNITY is committed to contributing to BRIDGE by sharing insights from our work on flexibility markets, data-driven grid management, and citizen engagement. Our participation allows us to:
- Showcase how OPENTUNITY innovations support DSO-TSO coordination and local flexibility markets.
- Exchange expertise on interoperability, data spaces, and digital energy platforms.
- Strengthen partnerships with other EU-funded projects and stakeholders.
- Influence the policy and regulatory discussions shaping the future of the European energy system.
Looking ahead
Engagement in BRIDGE activities is crucial for ensuring that the solutions developed in OPENTUNITY align with broader European objectives and remain at the forefront of energy system transformation.
Advancing Local Flexibility: Insights from OPENTUNITY’s Greek Pilot
As part of ongoing efforts to develop market-based mechanisms for local flexibility, HEDNO (DSO), IPTO (TSO), and NODES recently participated in an online interview with VITO, contributing their insights from the Local Flexibility Market (LFM) designed for the Greek Pilot within OPENTUNITY. This initiative is part of a broader study commissioned by the Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) to support the development of a European framework for demand response and flexibility markets.
The Role of DG ENER and VITO in Local Flexibility Markets
In accordance with Article 59(1)(e) of Regulation (EU) 2019/943, DG ENER is working on the establishment of a network code for demand response, which will set the rules, roles, and procedures for market-based procurement of flexibility services. To support this process, DG ENER has tasked VITO, a leading European research organization, with conducting a study on specification and design criteria for Local Flexibility Markets (LFMs).
The goal of this study is to identify best practices and design criteria tailored to different Member States, ensuring that LFMs contribute effectively to congestion management and other local grid services. Ultimately, the study will inform the upcoming demand response network code, helping to create a structured and scalable approach to flexibility procurement across the EU.
Greece’s Contribution to the Study
Recognized for its pioneering work on LFMs, Greece was invited to share insights from the flexibility market developed for the Greek Pilot in OPENTUNITY. As key stakeholders in this initiative, HEDNO, IPTO, and NODES participated in the study by:
- Completing a detailed questionnaire addressing various aspects of LFM design and operation.
- Engaging in a comprehensive interview with VITO’s research team to discuss key challenges and best practices.
The study focused on several critical areas, including:
- LFM Setup – Market structure, key stakeholders, coordination mechanisms, and platform development.
- Product Design – Flexibility products, bid formats, pricing schemes, and aggregation rules.
- Market Design – Prequalification, trading mechanisms, bid selection, and activation processes.
- Market Governance – DSO-TSO coordination, regulatory alignment, and data sharing.
- Performance Indicators – Market liquidity, traded flexibility volumes, transaction frequency, and cost-benefit analysis.
- Scalability & Lessons Learned – Success factors, challenges, and the potential for European harmonization.
By participating in this study, OPENTUNITY plays a vital role in shaping the future of LFMs in Europe, leveraging its experience in DSO-TSO coordination and flexibility procurement.
Towards a Unified European Approach to Flexibility Markets
The insights gathered from various LFM initiatives, including the Greek Pilot, will contribute to the design, implementation, and integration framework for local flexibility procurement. These findings will be shared in an upcoming workshop, facilitating further discussions and knowledge exchange among stakeholders.
Through its participation in this study, OPENTUNITY reaffirms its commitment to developing innovative flexibility solutions, supporting the EU’s vision for a more efficient, coordinated, and resilient electricity market.
Stay tuned for more updates on OPENTUNITY’s work in flexibility markets and local grid innovations! 🚀