The massive integration of renewable energy resources increases the uncertainty with respect to realtime operation of the electrical systems. This transition introduces new challenges and opportunities for various entities that are involved in energy generation, transmission, distribution and consumption such as system operators and market participants in the wholesale electricity market. The concept of Decentralized Energy Management or Demand Response is emerging as one of the main approaches to resolve the violations of the network operation limits and to increase the flexibility of the system. This paper introduces an interaction framework for trading flexibility among proactive end-users in an economically efficient way. It proposes new market participants with their roles and functionalities, that will operate alongside the existing ones to ensure market efficiency and to enable secure operation of distribution grids. The proposed framework consists of a main mechanism called 'ahead-markets scheduling'. The ahead-markets scheduling includes two sub-mechanisms, day-ahead and intra-day, which are operated by a local flexibility market operator. The ahead-markets scheduling provides a trading platform that allows market participants to reflect their need(s) for flexibility and to monetize flexibility services in a fair and competitive manner. It enables flexibility trades which will eventually facilitate network management for the system operator.

The Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) have a key role to play in understanding which factors and policies would motivate, encourage and enable different actors to adopt a wide range of sustainable energy behaviours and support the required system changes and policies. The SSH can provide critical insights into how consumers could be empowered to consistently engage in sustainable energy behaviour, support and adopt new technologies, and support policies and changes in energy systems. Furthermore, they can increase our understanding of how organisations such as private and public institutions, and groups and associations of people can play a key role in the sustainable energy transition. We identify key questions to be addressed that have been identified by the Platform for Energy Research in the Socio-economic Nexus (PERSON, see person.eu), including SSH scholars who have been studying energy issues for many years. We identify three main research themes. The first research theme involves understanding which factors encourage different actors to engage in sustainable energy behaviour. The second research theme focuses on understanding which interventions can be effective in encouraging sustainable energy behaviour of different actors, and which factors enhance their effects. The third research theme concerns understanding which factors affect public and policy support for energy policy and changes in energy systems, and how important public concerns can best be addressed as to reduce or prevent resistance.

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There is significant interest in developing offshore wind energy in Europe. Offshore wind projects require large transmission and installation investments. Therefore supporting policies are essential to make these project more economically attractive. This paper presents a optimization planning framework to investigate the impact of implementing a support instrument at different stages of planning on the final grid design and installed offshore wind capacities. For a given level of wind support, the optimal plan includes the grid and offshore wind capacities. Optimal capacities are set in such a way that congestion revenue collected throughout the life time of the project pays off the investment cost of building the grid. At the same time the remuneration of the offshore wind farm recovers the initial investment cost. The model is used to investigate the impact of implementing a wind support plan on the development of the offshore grid in the North Sea. Numerical simulation results are interpreted in economic terms and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

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