The project is testing lithium-ion batteries of electric vehicles (Nissan and Renault) and other direct and indirect storage options, including heat storage, demand-side management for small-scale energy storage in different types of buildings and small districts. The energy storage systems are being deployed and tested in office buildings in the UK and France, a Nissan factory in Spain, a research centre in Germany, a residential district in Germany and in the local low voltage branch of smart grid in Italy.

The core idea is to consider storage as a service towards building and district managers for local energy management optimisation, and towards distribution system operators (DSOs) for enhanced network operations.

Data models ensuring interoperability among building, districts and DSOs and novel business models enabled by energy storage “as-a-service” are also being developed.
Safety issues and social acceptance are being dealt with by communication and product reliability demonstration.

A technical, economic and environmental validation, involving relevant stakeholders, is being carried out to nurture the European-wide replication of the ELSA concept, prepare the ground for a concrete roll out and provide input for regulatory framework adaptation.