The report describes the activities conducted in relation to the interaction between multi-energy systems (MES), whose different energy carriers are processed, and the various energy markets for both electricity and gas. Sector coupling is one of the key tools to support the current decarbonisation policies envisaged by the European Union.

Multi-energy systems constitute nodes in the energy system network in which different energy vectors, such as electricity, gas and heat, interact and the possibility of transferring quantities of flexibility from one vector to another is fundamental to support the integration of non-programmable renewable generators.

The interaction of MES with different markets enables the sector coupling. To this aim an energy resource manager model was developed, this was exploited for simulating a real district heating system operating in the eastern Milan area while participating in energy and flexibility markets, for electricity and gas. The adopted model is a mixed integer linear optimization algorithm.

The simulations conducted made it possible to verify that on the MES operator’s side the supply needs of the resources necessary to support demand and the possibility of exploiting specific market opportunities can be grasped with the current organization in different auction and continue sessions.

From the point of view of the electricity system, the possibility of exchanging cheap quantities of energy on the markets in the phases of production exceeding requests and at high prices when production deficits occur have found a reactive counterpart in the MES operator.

The activity also concerned the framing of the problem of flexibility in the energy system and the services provided by the electricity system operators. Finally, an analysis of the state of development of district heating systems in some European countries and the impact they have on decarbonisation policies was reported.

The Report is available on the Italian site