With the transition of Europe’s energy system to cleaner but intermittent in nature renewable sources, the need for demand-side flexibility is becoming increasingly important. The active participation of energy consumers in the energy markets is moving into the foreground as a means to improve services for consumers, while helping to drive competition, integrate more variable renewable energy sources, enable the cost-effective uptake of electric vehicles and allow for a nimble operation of the power system. Despite the elimination of several regulatory barriers, demand response (DR) programs have not yet had the desired impact on the energy system, mainly because residential and tertiary buildings, responsible for 44% of final energy consumption in Europe, remain disengaged from DR activities. Their demand flexibility can prove to be an invaluable resource for the energy system, but as of today several roadblocks still hamper their direct, active participation in energy markets:
1) Technology-related roadblocks: massive and cost-effective roll-out of DR programs require communication of DR signals, which remains a significant barrier. The extreme fragmentation of protocols, data models and standards that govern building management systems and building-grid communications as well as the immaturity of the market leaves little room for the market players to converge to interoperable solutions due to increased complexity and cost. As a result, it becomes impossible to support enticing business propositions for commercial parties despite the obvious benefits of DR at the energy system level.
2) Consumer-related roadblocks: both price and incentive-based DR programs can be intrusive for consumers and carry either the risk of increased energy bills or potentially major inconveniences correspondingly. Energy consumers and especially home dwellers are risk averse, largely unaware of the potential benefits and cannot bear the hassle of managing their energy consumption profile based on incoming, irregular DR signals. In order for consumers to take ownership of the energy transition they need easy-to-understand information about DR programs; competitive services and dynamic tariff schemes; as well as automation to offload daily management hindrances to another entity acting on their behalf and faithfully representing their interests, lifestyle choices and personal preferences.
DRIMPAC primary objective is to provide a universal technological framework for end-to-end communication of the necessary information for the discovery and delivery of demand flexibility as well as to enhance building management intelligence in order to coordinate energy demand for the mutual benefit of the consumer and the energy system, while preserving comfortable and healthy living conditions. DRIMPAC will develop a standards-based interoperability platform with support for legacy protocols that will homogenize the communication requirements between buildings and the energy system in order to reduce the extreme fragmentation of interfaces currently in place.
DRIMPAC solution will include a human-centric, DR-enabled intelligent energy management system for residential and tertiary buildings that will automatically respond to DR requests, optimally making use of the building infrastructure and capabilities in order to bring the maximum benefits to consumers.
Furthermore, DRIMPAC will lay the necessary groundwork in preparation for the energy system transition by proposing, demonstrating and validating in real-life settings an innovative service offering for energy providers and accompanying business models, while proposing amendments and enhancements to standardization bodies.
