Sunlight participates at the X-FLEX project: collaboration and innovation supporting sustainability

Sunlight is a technology company specialising in integrated and innovative lead-acid and lithium-ion energy storage solutions. The company aims to develop specialised and innovative applications in the battery value chain and more environment-friendly storage solutions, to render sustainable energy more reliable and accessible, supporting transition to a net zero future. Research & Development (R&D) is at the heart of Sunlight , and extroversion is one of our most significant pursuits. Both these aspects of our operation are reflected in the company’s participation as implementation partner in a wide range of cutting-edge research programs, to which we offer our expertise, state-of-the-art equipment, and facilities. A series of articles to be published on this platform will be dedicated to these collaborative R&D projects. First up is X-FLEX, in light of

• 27 October 2021, i.e. the World Sustainability Day, celebrated each year on the last Wednesday of October, and
• the project’s participation at the Networking Village of the EU Sustainable Energy Week 2021, to be held virtually between 25 and 29 October 2021, and specifically the Energy Talk, to be hosted on 28 October, from 13:30 to 14:00 (CEST)

Τhe X-FLEX project

X-FLEX is a project implemented under the umbrella of the Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme, which is dedicated to Research and Innovation. It’s budgeted at around €7.3m, started in October 2019, and is scheduled to be completed in 2023. X-FLEX stands for "integrated energy solutions and new market mechanisms for an eXtended FLEXibility of the European grid" and focuses on creating a more stable, secure, and sustainable "smart" energy grid, efficient and effective under all weather conditions – including extreme ones. More specifically, the partners collaborating in the implementation of X-FLEX will design, develop, and test a set of tools (ServiFLEX tool, GridFLEX tool, MarketFLEX tool and X-FLEX platform) to integrate the emerging decentralised ecosystem of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into the existing European energy system. And thus, enable all parties to offer their flexibility to the market and create benefits for all actors across the "smart" grid value chain. This flexibility will make it possible to maintain a stable and secure electricity system, with a growing role of variable renewable generation, yet resilient to adverse climate events. Greece is represented in this project by Sunlight and the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO-DEDDIE). These two partners will be among those who will test the X-FLEX project solutions in real conditions in pilot sites across Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Greece. These sites represent areas with different needs and socioeconomic and technological boundaries, involving multiple flexibility assets (batteries and/or other storage solutions) and complementary actors of the energy network (DSO, TSO, microgrid operator, local communities, etc.).

The Sunlight Team

The Sunlight Team that worked on this project comprises Symeon Parcharidis, Project Coordinator; Pelagia Alexandridou, Alexandros Chatzialexiadis, Vaggelis Dinolazos, Aristoklis Karamanidis, Dimitris Koutras, Othon Monachos and Efstratios Thomaidis, Researchers; Kostas Paspalas, Administrative support; Theano Karakosta, External Researcher; and Thodoros Kazantzopoulos, Technical staff. At Sunlight, we are proud for our contribution to the X-FLEX project, the results of which are anticipated to increase energy self-efficiency and self-consumption, to support novel market actors to generate new and eco-friendlier business opportunities, to promote "smart" grid solutions and Virtual Energy Network synergies, and to reduce energy costs. For more information, please visit http://xflexproject.eu   Microgrid installation at Sunlight's manufacturing plant in Xanthi, in the context of the X-FLEX pilot testing