OPENTUNITY engages with consumers on the benefits and motivations of energy flexibility in Graz
What would encourage consumers to shift their electricity consumption and become active participants in the energy system? Financial incentives, practical guidance and easy-to-use solutions are among the key factors.
These questions were at the centre of OPENTUNITY's participation in Markt der Zukunft, a climate and culture festival held on 6 November 2026 at Kunsthaus Graz, Austria.
Bringing together representatives from science, business, civil society, art and local initiatives, Markt der Zukunft provides a space to discuss ecological and social challenges and explore pathways towards more sustainable futures.
Representing OPENTUNITY, project partner JR took part in the event with an exhibition stand, presenting the project's work on consumer flexibility and the role end-users can play in a more flexible energy system.
Making energy flexibility understandable and accessible
Visitors had the opportunity to learn what energy flexibility means, how it can support the electricity system and which technologies can provide it. The presentation also highlighted the potential economic benefits for end-consumers and how households can move beyond being passive electricity consumers to become active participants in the energy transition.
A key part of the discussions focused on the factors that encourage or discourage consumers from offering flexibility. Understanding these motivations is essential to developing solutions that respond to people's actual needs and make participation easier.
What motivates consumers to offer flexibility?
Feedback gathered during the event highlighted several conditions that could encourage households to shift their electricity consumption:
- Clear financial benefits: consumers are more willing to adapt their consumption when they can see tangible economic savings or rewards.
- Practical guidance: concrete recommendations on when to use electricity can help consumers identify the best moments to shift their consumption.
- Simple and automated solutions: flexibility services should require minimal effort, while allowing users to override automated actions when necessary.
- Environmental awareness: concerns about climate change and the desire to contribute to a more sustainable energy system are also important motivators.
These insights underline that unlocking consumer flexibility is not only a technological challenge. It also requires understanding user behaviour, addressing practical concerns and providing clear incentives.
Through its participation in Markt der Zukunft, OPENTUNITY strengthened its engagement with the public and gathered valuable feedback to help shape more accessible and consumer-oriented flexibility solutions.
OPENTUNITY explores the potential of distributed flexibility at SST 2026
The growing number of photovoltaic (PV) systems, batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicles is transforming low-voltage electricity grids. These distributed assets offer significant flexibility potential, but how much of it can actually be used to support grid operations?
This question was at the centre of a keynote delivered by Tomi Medved from the University of Ljubljana (UL) at SST 2026 – the International Conference on Smart Systems and Technologies, held in Osijek, Croatia, from 28 to 30 October 2026.
Organised by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek (FERIT), the conference brought together around 150 participants from the scientific community, industry and policy-making sector to exchange knowledge and discuss developments in smart systems and technologies.
Unlocking flexibility in low-voltage grids
During his keynote, Tomi Medved examined the growing role of decentralised energy resources and the new opportunities they create for electricity distribution system operators (DSOs).
Smart EV charging, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) solutions and home batteries are enabling new business models and changing how flexibility can be provided and managed. However, significant challenges remain before this potential can be fully harnessed.
In particular, making distributed flexibility accessible to DSOs requires answering several key questions:
where is flexibility located, how much is reliably available, who owns and operates these assets, and what is their actual value?
The presentation also explored mechanisms that could help address these challenges, including local flexibility markets, flexible connection agreements and appropriate regulatory frameworks. These approaches can allow DSOs to make more efficient use of existing grid capacity and potentially defer costly grid reinforcement.
OPENTUNITY's contribution to flexibility management
The keynote drew on the work carried out within OPENTUNITY, particularly the experience of its Slovenian pilot, which explores flexibility from electric vehicle fleets and household assets such as heat pumps, PV systems and batteries.
The project is developing an approach to aggregate and select flexibility from heterogeneous distributed energy resources according to the needs of DSOs. By making these resources more visible and accessible, OPENTUNITY aims to support their integration into grid operation and facilitate more efficient use of available flexibility.
The discussions at SST 2026 reinforced the growing relevance of these solutions. As the costs of PV systems and batteries continue to decrease, distributed flexibility is becoming an increasingly attractive resource for future energy systems. The interest shown by researchers and DSOs also highlighted the importance of continued collaboration between the scientific community and industry.
Beyond the technical discussions, the event provided an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the University of Ljubljana and FERIT, while opening new avenues for exchange with the regional research and DSO community.
OPENTUNITY's participation in SST 2026 contributed to sharing the project's findings and advancing the discussion on how distributed flexibility can support smarter, more efficient and more resilient electricity grids.
OPENTUNITY Improves Transformer Monitoring at Its Slovenian Pilot Site
Three transformer stations in Ajdovščina are now equipped with sensors to monitor temperature conditions, providing Elektro Primorska with real-time data through an accessible monitoring dashboard.
As electricity distribution networks face growing demands, having better information about the condition and operation of grid assets is essential. Monitoring transformer temperatures can help distribution system operators (DSOs) gain insights into equipment performance and identify potential issues.
As part of the OPENTUNITY Slovenian pilot, Elektro Primorska (EP) has installed monitoring sensors at three transformer stations in Ajdovščina. The collected measurements are visualised through a dashboard that allows users to monitor parameters such as ambient and top-oil temperatures in real time.
Beyond the technical implementation, Elektro Primorska is also promoting awareness of the project's developments within the organisation. On 25 August 2026, the partner shared an update about the installation through its internal news platform, making information about the monitoring equipment and dashboard available to interested employees.
The initiative has already attracted attention: 214 employees have viewed the intranet news item, while the monitoring dashboard has recorded 117 accesses. This represents an opportunity to familiarise a wider group of employees with the technologies being tested through OPENTUNITY and their potential applications in everyday grid operations.
By combining sensor-based monitoring with accessible data visualisation, the Slovenian pilot is demonstrating how digital tools can support more informed asset management and contribute to smarter electricity distribution networks.
OPENTUNITY explores policy and regulatory challenges for flexibility in European electricity grids
An internal policy workshop held on 1 October brought together project partners to examine regulatory barriers to distribution-level flexibility, discuss lessons from the pilot demonstrations and shape recommendations for the project’s final policy deliverable.
As Europe’s electricity system becomes increasingly decentralised, flexibility is gaining importance as a way to manage congestion, integrate renewable energy and make better use of existing grid infrastructure.
However, regulatory differences, limited network visibility and barriers to market participation can still hinder its wider deployment.
These challenges were at the centre of the OPENTUNITY Internal Policy Workshop, held on 1 October 2026. The session reviewed regulatory approaches across European countries and explored how the project’s findings could contribute to more effective frameworks for flexibility procurement and activation.
Five key challenges for flexibility deployment
Discussions highlighted five interconnected areas requiring further attention:
- Diverging national regulations: Different approaches to implementing EU electricity market rules can slow the development of flexibility markets. Regulatory sandboxes and pilot schemes offer opportunities to test new mechanisms before their wider adoption.
- Limited low-voltage grid visibility: Incomplete monitoring and delays in smart meter data can make it difficult for distribution system operators (DSOs) to identify and manage local congestion in real time.
- Coordination between system operators: Effective flexibility activation requires better coordination between transmission and distribution system operators, as well as between neighbouring or interconnected distribution networks.
- Barriers to participation: Smaller flexibility service providers, including households, farmers and municipal facilities, may face high entry costs, administrative complexity and concerns about financial penalties.
- Economic incentives and market governance: Existing regulatory frameworks can favour traditional grid reinforcement over flexibility procurement, underlining the need for clearer valuation methodologies and suitable market arrangements.
The workshop also emphasised that technical solutions alone are not enough. Building trust among participants, demonstrating tangible local benefits and ensuring that participation costs remain proportionate to potential revenues are important to encourage wider engagement in flexibility markets.
From project findings to policy recommendations
Experiences from the OPENTUNITY pilots provided a practical basis for discussing how digital platforms and coordination mechanisms can support flexibility services. In particular, the Greek demonstration highlighted workflows for coordination between transmission and distribution system operators.
Participants also examined different models for flexibility platform governance, the role of dynamic tariffs compared with market-based flexibility procurement, and opportunities to harmonise flexibility products across Europe. Greater convergence in areas such as minimum bid sizes, response times and verification procedures could help reduce fragmentation and support wider market development.
Next steps
The workshop marks an important step towards OPENTUNITY’s final policy and regulatory recommendations, which will consolidate the challenges identified, the solutions explored through the project and the remaining gaps that need to be addressed.
The next steps include updating the policy analysis, preparing a structured matrix linking regulatory bottlenecks with project solutions and areas for further work, and organising a follow-up workshop with external stakeholders, including DSOs, regulators, aggregators and flexibility service providers.
The feedback gathered will contribute to the final policy deliverable, planned for December 2026, helping translate OPENTUNITY’s findings into recommendations to support the wider adoption of flexibility solutions across Europe.
OPENTUNITY Contributes to CWA on Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading
CWA 50784:2026 provides a European framework for assessing the impact of P2P energy trading on distribution grids, bringing together lessons from research and innovation projects to support the wider deployment of energy communities and local flexibility.
As OPENTUNITY enters its final months, one of the project’s contributions is reaching beyond the project itself. CENELEC has officially published CWA 50784:2026 – Impact of P2P trading at distribution grid level, a new Workshop Agreement developed through collaboration between the OPENTUNITY and FEDECOM projects.
The document is now publicly available for free download through the CENELEC website, providing a common European reference for understanding how peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-pool energy trading can affect electricity distribution networks.
From project innovation to a common European framework
P2P energy trading is gaining attention as energy communities and distributed energy resources become an increasingly important part of Europe's energy system. However, enabling users to trade energy and flexibility locally also raises questions about grid capacity, congestion, voltage management, data exchange and interoperability.
CWA 50784:2026 addresses these challenges by providing a framework to assess and quantify the impact of P2P and peer-to-pool trading at low- and medium-voltage distribution grid level.
The agreement brings together expertise from energy technology, research, industry and standardisation, helping translate lessons from European R&I activities into a shared approach that can support future deployment.
For OPENTUNITY, this work is particularly relevant to the project's objective of connecting local flexibility, digitalisation and interoperable grid operation with real-world energy system needs.
Bringing the DSO perspective into P2P trading
One of the key contributions from OPENTUNITY is the distribution system operator (DSO) perspective.
While P2P trading is often considered primarily from the perspective of market transactions between consumers and prosumers, these exchanges also have a direct impact on the physical electricity network. More decentralised generation and consumption can create new patterns of power flows, congestion and voltage variations that need to be monitored and managed.
The OPENTUNITY approach addresses this technical dimension through advanced grid observability and flexibility management.
Short-term renewable generation forecasts and state estimation can be used to anticipate network conditions and identify potential congestion. When flexibility is needed, this information can support the activation of local flexibility services before network constraints become critical.
The project also explores how an advanced ADMS environment can help DSOs assess voltage variations associated with distributed energy resources and ensure that network performance remains within the applicable quality limits.
Making grid interoperability more accessible
Another important contribution concerns network topology and interoperability.
For P2P energy trading and other flexibility-based services to scale, different platforms and actors need to be able to work with compatible representations of the electricity network. However, adopting complex standardised models and digital tools can be challenging, particularly for smaller and medium-sized DSOs.
OPENTUNITY has therefore developed an open-source approach to network topology conversion and visualisation, supporting interoperability between different network modelling formats, including CIM, PowSyBl and Pandapower, as well as more accessible formats such as Excel.
This work can help DSOs integrate and visualise network information without depending on complex or highly specialised software environments, lowering some of the barriers to digitalisation and interoperability.
Supporting the next step towards market adoption
The publication of CWA 50784:2026 represents an important step in connecting research, standardisation and market deployment.
The agreement highlights the need for appropriate regulatory and digital frameworks to enable P2P and peer-to-pool trading at scale. This includes clearer approaches to the roles of different market actors, data exchange, settlement mechanisms and the interaction between local energy markets and distribution grid operation.
It also underlines the importance of giving DSOs the digital capabilities needed to understand and manage the network impacts of increasing local energy trading and flexibility.
For European R&I projects such as OPENTUNITY, this type of standardisation activity provides an opportunity to ensure that project results do not remain isolated demonstrations, but can contribute to common approaches that facilitate replication and future uptake.
CWA 50784:2026 now available
The CWA 50784:2026 – Impact of P2P trading at distribution grid level is now officially published by CENELEC and available free of charge through its CWA download area.
The Workshop Agreement was developed under the FEDECOM and OPENTUNITY projects, with contributions from organisations across the energy, research and standardisation communities.
The publication is not only a project milestone, but also an example of how European collaborative research can contribute to the common frameworks needed to move innovative energy solutions towards wider deployment.
Smart Grids in Practice: OPENTUNITY Brings Flexibility into the Discussion
On 10 September 2026, energy professionals and researchers gathered in Ljubljana, Slovenia, for “Smart Grids in Practice: Experiences and Results from European Projects STREAM and OPENTUNITY”, an event organised by Elektro Ljubljana and the University of Ljubljana.
Bringing together around 30 participants from distribution and transmission system operators, technology companies, research organisations and the energy media, the event provided an opportunity to present the results emerging from both projects and, importantly, to discuss how these experiences can translate into practical changes in the energy system.
From project results to practical discussions
OPENTUNITY was represented throughout the event by several project partners, providing different perspectives on the project's work and its results.
Janez Gregor Golja from the University of Ljubljana opened the OPENTUNITY contributions with an overview of the project's objectives, innovations, pilot sites and current stage, highlighting some of the main outcomes from the demonstration activities carried out across the four pilots, as well as the project's cross-platform demonstrations.
The presentations then moved into specific examples of how OPENTUNITY technologies are being applied and tested in practice. Amibit presented its Reduxi HEMS system and its work within the project on heat pump flexibility, coordination with Elektro Ljubljana, NILM participation and user research. Elektro Ljubljana shared its experience as a DSO and data provider, including the processes required to make operational data available for testing OPENTUNITY's DSO-focused tools, such as ICCS's short- and long-term asset management and grid planning solutions.
Other contributions connected OPENTUNITY's work with broader questions around flexibility and electrification. Avantcar discussed the challenges and opportunities associated with the rapid growth of e-mobility and highlighted the OPENTUNITY solution developed with Kolektor sETup for optimising EV charging schedules according to day-ahead electricity prices. The approach significantly reduced charging costs for the part of the fleet where it was tested.
How can flexibility support smarter grid development?
The event's two roundtable discussions provided an opportunity to move from project results towards some of the practical challenges facing the energy sector.
The first discussion focused on the DSO perspective and the value of flexibility. Participants explored where flexibility can be most useful for network operators and what regulatory, technical and operational changes may be needed to make greater use of it.
One of the key ideas discussed was the potential of flexible connections to make better use of existing grid capacity. Instead of dimensioning networks exclusively around occasional peaks, flexibility could in some situations allow certain assets to temporarily adjust their consumption or generation when network constraints occur. This could help operators accommodate additional renewable generation or new connections while potentially delaying or reducing some infrastructure investments.
The discussion also highlighted that flexibility should not be seen as a replacement for traditional grid reinforcement. Its value depends on the specific network conditions, the reliability of the flexibility service and the regulatory and contractual framework governing its use.
Connecting flexibility with the growth of e-mobility
The second roundtable focused on e-mobility, looking at both the challenges created by the rapid electrification of transport and the opportunity for EVs to become an additional source of flexibility for the electricity system.
EV charging infrastructure can create new peaks in electricity demand, but smart charging and other flexibility mechanisms can also turn these assets into a resource for grid management. The experience presented by Avantcar within OPENTUNITY provided a concrete example of how charging schedules can be optimised while reducing costs.
This dual role of electric vehicles as both a new source of demand and a potential flexibility resource, will become increasingly relevant as EV adoption continues to grow.
From European projects to real-world change
The event demonstrated the value of bringing project partners and energy-sector stakeholders together to discuss not only what has been developed, but also how these solutions could work in practice.
For OPENTUNITY, the discussions provided an opportunity to share the results of its demonstrations while gathering perspectives from actors directly involved in operating and developing electricity networks. The exchange also highlighted some of the remaining challenges that need to be addressed if flexibility is to become a reliable and scalable tool for the future energy system.
As OPENTUNITY approaches the final months of the project, these discussions are particularly relevant:
the focus is increasingly shifting from developing and demonstrating individual innovations towards understanding their practical impact, scalability and potential contribution to a more flexible and resilient European grid.
OPENTUNITY puts its innovations to the test across four pilots
Over the past year, OPENTUNITY has moved from developing its innovations to putting them to the test in real distribution grids, households, and energy markets. Across four pilot sites in Greece, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland, the project deployed and demonstrated its full set of tools for grid operators, prosumers, and flexibility markets under operating conditions. Work package 6 (WP6), coordinated by the University of Ljubljana, marks the point where years of design and development met the complexity of the real world.
A coordinated, evidence-based demonstration
Demonstrating a large set of innovations across four countries required careful coordination. Building on the demonstration plan defined in the first phase of WP6, each pilot worked through a structured set of test cases, with progress tracked systematically across all sites through regular coordination meetings. A dedicated monitoring process kept close watch on the datasets flowing from pilot partners to the technology developers, ensuring that every tool had the data it needed to be tested properly. In total, more than fifty test cases were executed, each documented with concrete evidence of what was deployed, how it was demonstrated, and what the outcome was.
Connecting tools to real infrastructure
Turning a working prototype into a tool running on live infrastructure is not straightforward. Sensors had to be installed on transformers and power lines, data pipelines built between utility systems and the project's platforms, and software connected to everything from household heat pumps to EV charging stations. This integration effort, often the least visible part of a project, was essential groundwork that made the demonstrations possible. - UL, Work Package 6 coordinator.
Results from across the four pilots
Each pilot brought something distinct to the project. Here are a few highlights, with more detailed pilot-focused articles to follow in the coming months.
- In the Greek pilot, HEDNO and IPTO demonstrated a flexibility market on the NODES platform that coordinated needs between the transmission and distribution operators, alongside a transformer health-monitoring tool that flagged real anomalies across high-voltage assets.
- In the Swiss pilot, AEM and its partners ran a local flexibility market for an energy community in Massagno that operated continuously and autonomously across 49 trading days, matching bids and dispatching real assets without manual intervention.
- In the Spanish pilot, ANELL operated a real-time thermal rating tool live on a 40 kV overhead line for roughly ten months, while a state estimation tool gave the operator visibility into low-voltage grids that are normally difficult to observe, reaching voltage estimation with very high accuracy.
- In the Slovenian pilot, smart charging of a shared EV fleet cut the gap to optimal charging cost by more than half in two months of real operation, while a network planning tool showed that even modest flexibility could defer grid reinforcement investments by several years.
What comes next
These demonstrations provide the evidence base for the next phase of the project, where OPENTUNITY will formally assess the impact of its innovations against the project's targets. In the meantime, watch this space for upcoming articles taking a closer look at each pilot and what it achieved.
Putting Flexibility to the Test: New Progress from OPENTUNITY’s Spanish Pilot
As OPENTUNITY moves into the final phase of the project, its Spanish pilot is progressing from technology validation towards real-world demonstration. In recent months, Estabanell, ETRA and Hypertech have been working together to validate the project’s solutions with distribution teams and to test flexibility activation in the pilot environment.
These activities are providing valuable feedback on both the technical performance of the solutions and their potential use in day-to-day grid operation.
Validating OPENTUNITY tools with distribution teams
As part of the pilot activities, Estabanell recently completed a series of internal presentations of ETER and the ICCS tools with the Distribution System Operator’s operations teams. The sessions provided an opportunity to introduce the technologies to potential end users, demonstrate their functionalities and collect feedback based on their operational experience.
Overall, the feedback was positive, with particular interest in three functionalities that are currently not covered by Estabanell’s existing applications. These include capabilities offered by both ETER and the ICCS tools.
One of the aspects that attracted most attention was ETER’s ability to bring together different data sources in a single environment. By combining real-time information from medium- and low-voltage networks with state estimation algorithms, ETER’s digital twin can provide enhanced observability of the distribution grid.
The teams also highlighted the potential of ETER to support scenario analysis and operational planning. The tool can be used to explore how future changes in grid operation could affect power flows, as well as to assess how the availability of flexibility could help alleviate potential congestion.
Another area of interest was the advanced asset management tool developed by ICCS, particularly its potential to support decisions when purchasing new smart meters by providing additional information on their expected reliability and performance.
The sessions also identified aspects of the solutions that still require further refinement. This feedback will be used by the project partners to improve the tools and strengthen the user experience ahead of the next stages of the pilot.
Moving towards real flexibility activation
Alongside the validation of the technologies with distribution teams, the Spanish pilot has also taken an important step towards demonstrating flexibility in practice.
During the last weeks of July, ETRA, Estabanell and Hypertech carried out the flexibility activation tests planned for the pilot. The activities will continue throughout August, allowing the partners to further assess the performance of the solution and prepare for the next stages of the demonstration.
An encouraging result from the tests carried out so far is that flexibility activations have taken place without users noticing any impact on their service or comfort. This is an important aspect of the demonstration, showing how flexibility can be activated to support the electricity system while maintaining a seamless experience for end users.
The ongoing tests will provide further insights into how the different components developed within OPENTUNITY work together in a real pilot environment. Once the pilot is completed, the partners will analyse the results and share the main conclusions and lessons learned.
From technology validation to real-world demonstration
The latest activities mark an important transition for the Spanish pilot. By combining feedback from distribution professionals with practical flexibility activation tests, OPENTUNITY is moving beyond the development of individual technologies towards integrated, real-world validation.
The coming months will focus on completing the remaining demonstrations and analysing the results, helping the project assess how its solutions can contribute to more observable, flexible and efficient distribution grids while keeping end users at the centre.
OPENTUNITY Showcased Flexible Energy Solutions at Power2Drive Europe 2026
From 22 to 25 June 2026, the OPENTUNITY project was represented at Power2Drive Europe, Europe's leading exhibition for charging infrastructure and electric mobility, held as part of The smarter E Europe in Munich, Germany.
Project partner Hive Power presented OPENTUNITY's work to an international audience of energy professionals, highlighting how the project is helping build a more flexible, interoperable and user-centric energy ecosystem for Europe's electricity grids.
Strong interest from the e-mobility sector
Power2Drive brought together key players from across the electric mobility value chain, providing an ideal setting to discuss the role of flexibility in future energy systems.
According to Hive Power, the greatest interest came from charge point operators and fleet managers, who
were particularly interested in understanding how smart charging and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technologies can unlock flexibility services while making better use of existing charging infrastructure.
The project's interoperability approach also attracted considerable attention. Many visitors recognised the need for solutions capable of connecting different platforms and technologies, rather than introducing additional complexity into an already fragmented ecosystem.
Discussions focused on flexibility and market value
Throughout the event, conversations frequently centred on two key topics that are also at the heart of OPENTUNITY.
The first concerned the assessment of flexibility available from electric vehicles and battery storage systems, and how these distributed resources can actively contribute to demand response programmes and grid services.
The second focused on the business perspective, exploring how the value created through flexibility services can be fairly distributed among prosumers, aggregators and grid operators, an essential aspect for accelerating the adoption of flexibility markets across Europe.
Within OPENTUNITY, Hive Power contributes to these challenges by developing solutions to estimate flexibility from EVs and battery storage while optimising demand response actions through interoperable software integrated into the project's wider flexibility ecosystem.
Creating opportunities beyond the exhibition
Participation in Power2Drive also opened the door to new collaborations. Hive Power established several promising contacts with fleet operators and managers, with follow-up meetings already scheduled to explore how electric vehicle fleets could participate in future flexibility markets.
These discussions demonstrate the growing interest in practical flexibility solutions and reinforce the relevance of OPENTUNITY's work in supporting Europe's transition towards a smarter, more resilient and consumer-centred energy system.
Inside the Greek Citizen Engagement Workshop
On July, 2026, the OPENTUNITY Greek Pilot reached a significant milestone in its mission to place citizens at the heart of the energy transition. In a collaborative effort, partners HEDNO, IPTO, HYPERTECH and ICCS, under the strategic guidance of JOANNEUM RESEARCH, hosted a dynamic online workshop titled:
"Becoming Part of the Energy Future – How OPENTUNITY Empowers Citizens and Professionals".
Bridging the Gap: From Technical Concepts to Daily Benefits
The primary goal of the session was to strip away complex technical jargon and introduce the OPENTUNITY ecosystem in a simple, engaging way. Rather than focusing solely on engineering, the workshop highlighted how small changes in everyday energy consumption can collectively improve the stability of the national electricity system.
Participants explored the necessity of smart grids and flexibility services, discovering how these innovations allow households to transition from passive consumers to active partners who benefit directly from new digital energy services.
An Interactive Look at the Future Grid
To keep the two-hour session engaging for its 23 participants, the presenters utilised interactive live polls via QR codes and short videos to illustrate key concepts. The comprehensive agenda covered:
- The Big Picture: An introduction to the OPENTUNITY project and the specific challenges facing today’s electricity system.
- Defining Flexibility: Why smart grids are essential for the modern energy landscape and how flexibility benefits both the system and the consumer.
- Live Tool Demonstrations: A first-hand look at the innovations driving the project, including NILM (Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring), HEMS/BEMS (Home/Building Energy Management Systems), the Network Planning Tool, and the Local Flexibility Market.
Strengthening DSO-TSO Synergies in Greece
The workshop is a core part of the activities in the Greek pilot site, which covers the Mesogia area (Koropi, Lavrio, and N. Makri) as well as the interconnected islands of Kea, Andros, and Tinos. A key focus of this pilot is increasing the digitalisation of both the DSO (HEDNO) and the TSO (IPTO) while establishing vital synergies between them to better manage grid operations.
The Human Element of the Energy Transition
The event concluded with an open discussion where experts shared their views on how these digital tools can be practically adopted in daily life. By fostering this direct dialogue, OPENTUNITY continues to ensure that the European energy ecosystem is not just technically advanced, but truly user-centric and accessible to all citizens.
To explore more about our innovations or to view technical details on our Greek pilot: