The ELEXIA project funded under EU’s Horizon Europe program, entirely transforms the energy game

With pilot projects in Bergen, Copenhagen, and Sines, ELEXIA demonstrates energy security, energy efficiency, flexibility and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. That the port of Sines, Portugal's 14th largest container port in Europe, is one of the pilots may not be a coincidence — this is where Vasco da Gama was born in 1469.

– ELEXIA is about turning a vision into reality. For me, ELEXIA means integrating different energy networks without the need to build anything new, simply by making better use of what we already have. To achieve this, people must think "outside the box" and leave the beaten tracks - for utilizing the knowledge generated by the project motivation is key. We must communicate the benefits of using the concepts and solutions developed and demonstrated through ELEXIA," says Peter Breuhaus, Chief Scientist at NORCE.

Breuhaus coordinates the entire ELEXIA project, which is part of the EU Horizon program and anchored in the EU’s Green Deal and Energy System Integration Strategy. The project’s goal is to find the most effective and optimal integrated energy solutions in line with the needs of the green transition and the high demand for clean energy:

– After two years, we now begin testing tools in the pilots and developing a plan for replication. And we’re realising just how important “language” is. How can we, as technologists and scientist, communicate our solutions? We see that we need to change how we speak, to ensure that the concept and idea behind it is well understood" Breuhaus explains.

ELEXIA is now at a stage to showcase and present the achievements and results. Tool implementation in the pilots is underway, and at the same time, we must begin to present the results to everybody.

The researchers working in ELEXIA are based in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Finland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Norway. While they primarily collaborate remotely from their offices via Teams meetings, they occasionally gather in person for larger work sessions. In autumn 2024, they met in Athens (Greece). Previously, they have gathered in Krakow (Poland), Sines (Portugal), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Bergen (Norway). These different locations provided them with close insight into the various pilot sites and local conditions besides the intensive cooperation in working groups and in the plenum.

In Athens, at the offices of project partner CORE Group, concrete plans were made for integration of the different tools and their integration at the pilot sites of Dokken in Bergen, Høje-Taastrup near Copenhagen, and the Port of Sines in Portugal.

Dennis Lange, Project Manager at Center Denmark, explained that one of the workshops focused on creating data-driven workflows based on predefined use cases.

– "In working on the workflows, we also gained a better understanding of how mature different technologies and tools are for such integration. I primarily participated in the session focused on the Norwegian pilot. This pilot uses the toolbox exclusively for system planning. In this session, we managed to establish an initial version of the data requirements."

Another workshop specifically addressed the data within the various systems.

Lange shared that the team is also working on understanding and identifying the details of the different energy markets, necessary for connecting markets and market information to the energy systems management and planning tools:

– "We were introduced to a range of open data sources that we can use for various types of data. Discussions also covered selecting data gateways for interconnection between telecommunications networks and timing of these connections. For the energy markets, we defined key partners to assist with integration and data needs. These include Tecnalia from Spain, VTT from Finland, and possibly DTU from Denmark."

The digital technologies aim to improve energy production, distribution, and consumption across the three test pilots and between the different energy systems (electrical, thermal, gas system, transport etc.). This includes the integration of smart grids and IoT devices, as well as the use of artificial intelligence and big data analytics to optimize energy efficiency, enhance reliability, and reduce costs.

-We had very productive discussions to initiate the integration of the various tools used in the pilots. I’m excited about the next steps, where we connect different energy systems!”
— Carlos Madina, from Technalia, speaking on behalf of the Port of Sines, one of ELEXIA’s pilot sites.

Madina explains that for him, ELEXIA is more than just a research project. It is about practical facilitation for smart and clean integration of different energy systems. This involves an extensive dialogue with various stakeholders and active contributions from diverse participants.

However, this is not an easy task. Several technical considerations must be addressed:

• Different systems
• Different purposes
• Different perspectives

-The workshops in Athens marked the starting point for the integration of the new tools developed under the project umbrella,” says Madina. “There are six highly innovative cases that need to be interconnected across all pilots. The needs differ between the pilots, requiring detailed mapping. ‘Coherent’ is a key term here,” he adds.

For the port of Sines, there are fewer stakeholders involved compared to Denmark and Bergen, but the focus is on industrial operations. A significant challenge is that the facility must remain operational at all times, even during the implementation of new tools and optimization of processes.

ELEXIA is more than just a project—it is about the concrete integration of various energy systems. This also requires extensive dialogue and involvement from a wide range of stakeholders, happening in real-time. This is not a simple task, as there are many technical considerations:

• Different systems
• Different purposes
• Different perspectives

Key Questions to Address:

• How can integration happen without by increasing the likelyhood of failures and support the security of supply?
• How can new tools be implemented without disrupting existing operational systems which are having diverse designs and levels of technology?

Differences Between the Pilots:

Scope: Different goals and needs define the questions to be addressed by using various tools:

• Dokken (Norway): Planning for the future energy systems of a new district is challenging. The objective is to provide guidance for planning the integrated energy systems of a newly developed district while at the same time considering all aspects of life cycle assessment of the necessary infrastructure.
• Sines (Portugal): Testing is difficult because the facility operates 24/7. This requires flexibility and simulation of operations. There are many diverse buildings and systems, with insufficient and diverse measurement systems. Additionally, the vehicle charging systems lack proper management and real-time data storage capabilities.
• Høje Taastrup (Denmark): The focus is on residents' usage patterns and needs, which vary but share a common goal of energy savings and collective benefits. At the same time is large scale seasonal energy storage to be integrated to ensure a cost-effective supply throughout the year despite mismatches of demand and generation profiles.

The greatest shared challenge for all three pilots in ELEXIA is the need to relinquish local control. However, for Dokken in Bergen, where construction is planned to begin in the next years, the Danish pilot in Høje Taastrup could serve as a tangible model for addressing aspects of energy management through the development of digital twins (replicas) of the solutions as well as from experiencing the integration of energy vectors in an urban environment.