Abstract
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.