| Description: | THE STOCHASTIC NATURE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES AND ELECTRICITY DEMAND CREATES A NEED FOR HIGHER LEVELS OF OBSERVABILITY AND FLEXIBILITY IN DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS. WHILE THESE TWO OBJECTIVES HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN ADDRESSED SEPARATELY, PLATONE PROPOSES AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH THAT COMBINES THE STUDY OF BOTH. CONSIDERING THE EXISTING REGULATORY FRAMEWORK, A MULTI-LEVEL SET OF PLATFORMS WILL SERVE THE NEEDS OF OPERATORS, AGGREGATORS, AND END-USERS. A BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM SERVES AS THE INTERFACE FOR PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS, OVERCOMING TYPICAL ACCESS LIMITATIONS BY PROVIDING CERTIFIED MEASURES FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS. ADDITIONALLY, CERTIFIED DATA AND SIGNALS WILL BE USED IN AN INNOVATIVE PLATFORM FOR THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK OPERATOR TO MAINTAIN SYSTEM SECURITY. A HIGHER-LEVEL PLATFORM WILL IMPLEMENT INNOVATIVE FLEXIBILITY ACTIVATION MECHANISMS SUCH AS AN OPEN MARKET BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN AND DYNAMIC NETWORK USAGE CHARGES, CONNECTING INDIVIDUAL ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH THE TRANSMISSION NETWORK, THEREBY INCREASING OVERALL ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY. PLATONE PLACES THE END-USER AT THE CENTER, EXPLORING THEIR NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS, AND USES BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AS A MEANS TO ENHANCE THEIR DYNAMIC RESPONSE. THE PLATFORMS WILL BE TESTED AT THREE MAJOR PILOT SITES ACROSS EUROPE AND WILL BE ANALYZED IN COLLABORATION WITH A LARGE RESEARCH INITIATIVE FROM CANADA. |
