DELTA partner University of Cyprus organised a Demand Response workshop on 22 November 2019.  The workshop entitled Emerging Energy Systems and the role of Demand Response was hosted by FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy of the University of Cyprus.

FOSS invited all those interested in smart grids and the future of energy markets to join them in discussing the latest trends in energy flexibility at this workshop addressing the evolving new electricity market and Demand Response. The workshop focused on the concept of the aggregator and on DELTA and another EU funded research and innovation project, DRIMPAC.

The workshop was opened by Dr Venizelos Efthymiou, Chairman of FOSS, who presented the guiding policy objectives for the European Research & Innovation roadmap and the high-level objectives of the Energy Policy of the EU. The presentation focused on the future vision of power systems, the emerging benefits of Demand Response and the ways in which available resources can efficiently be used to boost flexibility.

This was followed by a presentation by FOSS Special Scientist Venizelos Venizelou. His presentation focused on the concept and objectives of the DELTA project. He described the deployment plans of the University of Cyprus pilot site as well as the activities performed to get the participants to gain the full benefits of their active participation.

FOSS Special Scientist Filippos Perdikos continued with a presentation of the DRIMPAC project. He gave an overview of the objectives and challenges of the project as well as the pilot end-user engagement and training activities along with the benefits of participation.

Relevant stakeholders came together to exchange views on the challenges ahead in a transparent and constructive way. The participants had the opportunity to learn about the innovative areas of research which the EU-funded projects are pioneering. The workshop emphasised the engagement activities of the end users that live or operate within the pilot sites as well as addressing their concerns. The main aim was to finalise the recruitment and preparation of the end-users as well as to motivate them to participate actively. Additionally, discussions on the project objectives and how they will impact the future energy markets were held enabling participants to provide feedback. This feedback will support the validation of the user requirement and business cases.

The workshop was attended by more than 30 stakeholders representing a broad range of different fields. Their responses were analysed and classified by type of stakeholder. Four types of stakeholders were identified:

• Transmission System Operators (1)
• Distribution System Operators (3)
• Small/Medium Enterprises (5)
• Pilot-participants / potential end-users (24)