Minsait participates in the first regulatory test bed for the electricity sector
Minsait (Indra Group) will participate in the first regulatory test bed – known as a sandbox – in the Spanish electricity sector, a pioneering initiative of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco) that will be funded by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) for projects involving new business models for the energy transition.
The proposal by the digitalisation company, accompanied by seven companies from the energy sector, is called Flexability. It is the highest-rated of the five selected by the Secretary of State for Energy and has a budget of 2.5 million euros, 50% of which is subsidised by Next Generation funds under the ‘Innovation in the energy transition’ aid line.
Its purpose is to test, in real cases, the economic and operational model of independent demand aggregation in the markets, i.e. the grouping of consumers on a technological platform capable of adjusting their behaviour according to the availability of energy from renewable sources or in the event of congestion on the electricity grid.
Ultimately, the aim is to contribute to the advancement of the energy transition by placing the consumer at the centre and helping to reduce electricity prices.
The initiative has its origins in the R&D projects that Minsait and ACE began in 2018 to help balance generation and demand as sustainability requirements gave greater prominence to green energy, whose variable nature required a technological and innovative response.
The figure of the independent aggregator – distinct from that of the marketer – emerged from the new business models of the energy transition and is capable of managing the consumption, generation and storage of its customers in an aggregated manner in order to act in the markets as a new player in the electricity sector.
Companies with which Minsait has been working on demand management projects in recent years have joined the collaboration initiated with ACE. Key figures such as OMIE (Iberian Electricity Market Operator) complete the group, together with Ferrovial Energía and Galp Movilidad Eléctrica (demand aggregators), Norvento (control centre), Green Eagle (control centre platform) and Etecnic (charging point management platform).
Furthermore, as part of a regulatory test bed, Flexability will be working with Villar & Asociados, a law firm specialising in the electricity sector, which will transform the conclusions of the tests into a proposal for new regulations for independent aggregators in Spain.
Flexibility platform
Minsait's role will be to provide the flexibility platform that will integrate all project participants. Thanks to advanced intelligence and algorithms—the company already uses these technologies in projects in Spain, Italy, Colombia, the United States and Saudi Arabia—the independent aggregator will be able to modify consumer behaviour to adapt it to market needs in exchange for a financial return.
This pilot test will focus on the commercial segment – supermarkets, electric car charging stations and buildings in the tertiary sector – to demonstrate its technical, operational and economic viability, although it is expected that the flexibility platform will be able to provide the same service to domestic consumers in the future.
Flexability will run for approximately two years. Miteco has announced that, once the results of the five sandbox projects have been obtained, it intends to move forward with making the electricity system more flexible in order to adapt it to growing renewable generation through a regulatory framework that meets the European Union's decarbonisation targets.