Test services for technology

The Flexibility Lab pilot comprises laboratories and demonstration areas. The activities will begin in Málaga as a demonstration area, and it will likely be extended to other areas with a high penetration of flexible resources such as Seville and Menorca, which enable the development and testing of flexibility mechanisms, products and services oriented to the distribution network. These areas have a diversity of types of electricity demand (industrial sector, services sector, buildings, etc.), mainland and insular in character, and different geographical density of sites with flexible resources connected on the grid.

In this way, the characteristics of each area make it possible to undertake Flexibility Lab pilot activities in different scenarios, enabling, for example, validation of the share of demand in local flexibility markets and the evaluation of other flexibility services compared to investment in conventional reinforcements.

With our Flexibility Lab pilot we seek to explore the possibilities of developing flexibility services with the active participation of all interested parties, providing the following services: 

• Testing communication interfaces and protocols 
• Support for the characterisation of resources and flexibility devices
• Validation of configuration parameters for flexibility services
• Validating the effect of the configuration on networks, resources, and devices
• Testing equipment management software 
• Testing security and interoperability

Testing in demonstration areas and laboratories has the following advantages:

• Validating the compatibility of interfaces, devices and resources with the provision of flexibility services 
• Defining and testing correct operating parameters 
• Validating service provision with different network configurations 
• Running stress tests under extraordinary operating conditions (such as weather events, major disconnections and extensive breakdowns) 
• Simulation of different regulatory situations and their possible impact on networks
• Developing tests using demonstration projects in real test environments.