To maximise synergies between EU Horizon 2020 funded projects, members of the consortia of Platone, DECIDE, FEVER and edgeFLEX as well as external experts gathered virtually on 19 November 2020 to discuss the potential of local flexibilities in relation to energy communities. B.A.U.M. is an active consortium member in all the four projects of Platone, DECIDE, FEVER as well as edgeFLEX.

After reviewing similarities and differences as well as collaboration opportunities, the participants agreed on continuing to work together.

On EU and national level, the discussion on advancing the European energy system often centres around technical solutions for harvesting flexibilities and establishing a new organisational and business model that builds on a better involvement of citizens, e.g. in energy communities. Few projects tackle these issues together – whereas the involved projects do. In order to sound out the possibilities of a closer cooperation, the main objective of the workshop was to elaborate the similarities of the four projects and to find out the differences aiming to learn from each other.

In the first part of the event, the projects as well as the concept of energy communities and approaches to flexibility management in other EU and ERA-Net SES funded projects were presented.

In the second part, the partners of the different consortia discussed in three parallel breakout sessions using virtual visualization. The session focused on the following questions:

• how to cooperate in developing standards and technical solutions,
• how to align efforts in communicating joint messages and
• how to set the stage for business eco-systems beyond the funded projects.

The workshop was organized by B.A.U.M. Consult who is seeking to establish a long-term collaboration between the four projects and a broader community on flexibilities. The participants agreed on follow-up workshops to further discuss the different topics.