The increasing volume of distributed resources and user-dependent loads in local networks has increased the concern for congestion and voltage management in distribution networks. To mitigate these issues, the implementation of local flexibility markets has been proposed to assist distribution system operators (DSOs) to manage their networks efficiently. This paper presents the framework of a local flexibility market, including the market participants and their roles. This framework aims to empower DSOs with a market-based instrument for the alleviation of congestion incidents by exploiting the flexibility of local resources. The proposed market aims to provide a tool for the holistic management of distribution networks by trading both reservation and activation of flexibility services, indifferent of the type and the timeline of the needed service. Three market modes are proposed, i.e., long-term, short-term and real-time market, and the interactions among those modes are shown. The operation of the market is explained in detail, including the identification of the needed services, the activation of the market as well as the proposed bidding, clearing and settlement mechanisms. The modelling of the long-term and real-time markets is also presented, along with some indicative simulation results for long-term and real-time services. Finally, the future developments as well as the major conclusions are discussed.

This paper investigates the cost-effectiveness of operation strategies which can be used to abate CO ${}_2$ emissions in a local multi-energy system. A case study is carried out using data from a real energy system that integrates district heating, district cooling, and electricity networks at Chalmers University of Technology. Operation strategies are developed using a mixed integer linear programming multi-objective optimization model with a short foresight rolling horizon and a year of data. The cost-effectiveness of different strategies is evaluated across different carbon prices. The results provide insights into developing abatement strategies for local multi-energy systems that could be used by utilities, building owners, and authorities. The optimized abatement strategies include: increased usage of biomass boilers, substitution of district heating and absorption chillers with heat pumps, and higher utilization of storage units. The results show that, by utilizing all the strategies, a 20.8% emission reduction can be achieved with a 2.2% cost increase for the campus area. The emission abatement cost of all strategies is 36.6–100.2 (€/tCO ${}_2$ ), which is aligned with estimated carbon prices if the Paris agreement target is to be achieved. It is higher, however, than average European Emission Trading System prices and Sweden’s carbon tax in 2019.