The FlexPlan Horizon2020 project aims at establishing a new grid-planning methodology which considers the opportunity to introduce new storage and flexibility resources in electricity transmission and distribution grids as an alternative to building new grid elements, in accordance with the intentions of the Clean Energy for all Europeans regulatory package of the European Commission. FlexPlan creates a new innovative grid-planning tool whose ambition is to go beyond the state of the art of planning methodologies by including the following innovative features: assessment of the best planning strategy by analysing in one shot a high number of candidate expansion options provided by a pre-processor tool, simultaneous mid- and long-term planning assessment over three grid years (2030, 2040, 2050), incorporation of a full range of cost–benefit analysis criteria into the target function, integrated transmission distribution planning, embedded environmental analysis (air quality, carbon footprint, landscape constraints), probabilistic contingency methodologies in replacement of the traditional N-1 criterion, application of numerical decomposition techniques to reduce calculation efforts and analysis of variability of yearly renewable energy sources (RES) and load time series through a Monte Carlo process. Six regional cases covering nearly the whole European continent are developed in order to cast a view on grid planning in Europe till 2050. FlexPlan will end up formulating guidelines for regulators and planning offices of system operators by indicating to what extent system flexibility can contribute to reducing overall system costs (operational + investment) yet maintaining current system security levels and which regulatory provisions could foster such process. This paper provides a complete description of the modelling features of the planning tool and pre-processor and provides the first results of their application in small-scale scenarios.

This paper describes the results of an intercomparison of spectroradiometers for measuring global normal incidence and direct normal incidence spectral irradiance in the visible and in the near infrared, together with an assessment of the impact these results may have on the calibration of the short circuit current (I sc ) of triple-junction photovoltaic devices and on the relevant spectral mismatch calculation. The intercomparison was conducted by six European scientific laboratories and a Japanese industrial partner. Seven spectroradiometer systems, for a total of 13 different instruments/channels using two different technologies and made by four different manufacturers were involved. This group of systems represents a good cross section of the instrumentation for solar spectrum measurements available to date. The instruments were calibrated by each partner prior to the intercomparison following their usual procedure and traceability route in order to verify the entire measurement and traceability chain. The difference in measured spectral irradiance showed to have an impact on the calibration of a set of Iso-Type cells varying from ±2% to ±14% for middle and bottom cell, respectively.

With the increasing number of photovoltaic (PV) installations on a worldwide scale, an outdoor performance analysis of various types of modules is needed. The purpose to assess and compare the performance of different types of modules in specific geographical locations, under various climatic conditions and to identify benefits/losses given by a specific surrounding context, is very important to evaluate the energetic behavior of future installations and direct them toward the most suitable technology to apply. The installations taken into consideration are located in Bolzano, Milan, and Catania, allowing comparison among three different Italian climate conditions and irradiance levels: the Alpine region, the upper Padana valley, and the see-side area in Sicily. In Bolzano, a multi-technology ground-mounted PV field is taken into analysis. For Milan and Catania, two multi-section PV power plants are monitored. The monitoring activities are done taking the international norm IEC 61724 as reference document, together with the best practice already existing in the field. The PV modules are evaluated in relation to ambient conditions, installation characteristics, module-specific behavior and state. Results are provided in a comparative way among the three considered geographical locations. Results are validated and an uncertainty estimation is shown. As instrumentation and environmental conditions are not the same, uncertainties for the locations might be different. Possible issues related to monitoring activities, as well as the performance of different PV technologies, will be highlighted.

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This paper describes the main features of the new European research project FlexPlan. This project aims at establishing a new grid planning methodology considering the opportunity to introduce new storage and flexibility resources in electricity transmission and distribution grids as an alternative to building new grid elements. FlexPlan will create a new innovative grid planning tool whose ambition is to go beyond the state of the art of planning methodologies, by including the following innovative features: integrated transmission distribution planning, inclusion of environmental analysis, probabilistic contingency methodologies replacing the N-1 criterion as well as optimal planning decision over several decades. Then, the new tool will be used to analyse six regional cases covering nearly the whole European continent, aimed at demonstrating the application of the tool on real scenarios as well as at casting a view on grid planning in Europe till 2050. In this way, the FlexPlan project will try to answer the question of which role flexibility could play and how its usage can contribute to reduce planning investments yet maintaining current system security levels. The project will end up formulating guidelines for regulators and planning offices of system operators.