On 17 December 2024, the IIS CETWA Annual Event brought together 68 participants from companies, universities, and research centers at Le CLICK, a platform dedicated to innovation and creativity. The event featured an inspiring General Assembly where participants revisited IIS CETWA's goals, reflected on achievements from the past year, and outlined plans for the future. These plans emphasized fostering partnerships, supporting collaborative projects, and increasing international visibility for Walloon energy actors.
One of the highlights of the day was the poster session, which showcased innovative projects in the energy sector, including the ALEXANDER project. The ALEXANDER project, presented during this dynamic event, focuses on accelerating low-voltage flexibility participation in a grid-safe manner. This aligns with the event's overarching themes of fostering innovation and collaboration in the energy sector. The poster session also elaborated on UMONS' role in the ALEXANDER project. UMONS is actively working to unlock the flexibility potential of energy communities for system operators.
Generally speaking, energy communities are groups of individuals, businesses, or organizations that collaborate to produce, consume, share, and manage energy. They emphasize renewable energy sources like solar and wind. These communities empower local participants, promote sustainability, and enhance energy independence by fostering local energy generation and flexibility while simultaneously supporting grid stability and reducing environmental impacts. More specifically, energy communities play a crucial role in flexibility provision by efficiently managing local energy generation, storage, and consumption. They enable better integration of renewable energy into the grid, reduce congestion, helping to maintain grid stability while optimizing energy use at the community level.
By the end of the ALEXANDER project, UMONS will also investigate the impact of user behavior in energy communities on flexibility provision. This aspect is crucial because users have diverse and heterogeneous (economic and non-economic) preferences when participating in energy communities. Understanding these preferences can provide deeper insights into the potential of energy communities to deliver flexibility services to system operators. Addressing this intersection will pave the way for more adaptive, user-centric frameworks that strengthen the role of energy communities in achieving sustainable, efficient, and resilient energy systems
