How interoperability of flexibility platforms enables market design opportunities

This article discusses market design opportunities of interoperable flexibility platforms in the context of Europe’s energy transition. While numerous flexibility platforms already exist, they are not yet interoperable, which limits the potential for flexible resources to participate in them. The DigIPlat project - in which the research for this article was conducted - aims to provide measures for implementing standardized digital solutions for the interaction of transnational flexibility markets, as well as new use cases for maximizing the value of flexibility for multiple system services. This paper specifies three use cases regarding to interoperable use of flexibility for balancing, congestion management, and intraday markets. Use Case 1 focuses on the use of balancing energy considering network restrictions, implementing an optimization approach that minimizes balancing energy costs considering possible grid congestion. The paper concludes that interoperability is essential for realizing the full potential of flexible resources in Europe’s energy transition.