Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Energy system planners and operators will deliver advanced tools to better optimise overall system value of Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) for cross-regional networks and markets dominated by intermittent and stochastic renewable energy sources.
• Optimised LDES integration in relevant grid locations will help energy system stakeholders to maximise total lifetime cost-benefit, improved grid-operation as well as avoided fossil fuel use and CO2 abatement, renewable energy balancing and reduced need for network reinforcement;
• Finetuned business cases for revenue stacking for multiple services as well as detailed overview of marginal abatement costs of various technologies and their combinations across the participating regions will help operators, planners and investors to take the right long term strategic decisions concerning LDES integration in the energy system.
• Cost effective decarbonisation and market revenue streams to improve LDES economics (e.g., nodal and locational pricing) will increase investors trust and therefore accelerate LDES roll out.

The project will develop and test new, advanced, integrated models and tools for cross-regional networks and markets that are dominated by intermittent and stochastic renewable energy sources. This spatial-temporal model should be designed to create, analyse and optimize scenarios for strategically integrating, locating and dimensioning LDES (here defined as: >12h) for a future European energy system.

The proposed solution will be tested under different scenarios in a relevant/operational environment. The project should be based on a complete understanding of existing operational systems in at least two adjacent regions (NUTS 2 or 3) – best represented in the form of a digital twin (or similar). Consortia should include the respective system operators, service providers, technology providers, potential financial actors and other relevant stakeholders.

The project should produce practical, operationally useful knowledge on cross-regional strategies for combining a variety of clean flexibility LDES solutions/technologies and cross-sector integration, focusing on the optimal combination of LDES with RES production sites, industrial complexes and districts (e.g. co-location and hybridisation), to support the grid.

This topic will analyse the overall system value of integration of LDES (>12h) in the energy system under different future decarbonisation pathways, assessing the impact on operation and planning of energy infrastructure costs as well as security of supply, system reliability and resiliency.

The scope is to maximise the benefit of LDES integration within the context of system wide optimisation of long-term grid enhancement strategies. This encompasses relevant, validated historical data sets, visualisation, scenario analysis, model sensitivity analysis and data set optimisation, optimal use of previously developed models and digital twins, cyber security, use of open-source solutions and free licensing.

The project is expected to identify technical and regulatory barriers, and propose possible recommendations and policy actions, to promote the best solutions tackling these barriers and support replication of the solutions.