Electrical flexibility: a growing market seeking for regulation
#energy transition; #regulation; #smartenergy
As technologies that enable electricity networks to accommodate more capacity without building new generation plants flourish, the flexibility market is developing at breakneck speed in Europe.
In response to the enthusiasm of new market players who want to position themselves in this potentially lucrative business, and as DSOs and TSOs seek to better understand how to integrate their offerings, the European Commission has tasked Entsoe, the association gathering the European TSOs and the european DSO entity with drafting a "demand/response network code" for flexibility.
On the 8th of May, the European Distribution System Operators Entity (EU DSO Entity) and the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) submitted to the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) a joint proposal for the Network Code on Demand Response.
This new Network Code on Demand Response will be key to ensure the integration of demand-side flexibility resources into the energy system needed for the decarbonization of the power system. The Network Code includes further common rules to facilitate aggregation of resources, demand response rules and energy storage across the European Union.
In a conference organised in Paris last month, M.Rabassi, the VP of Nordpool, the company running the leading power market in Europe, and trading power in 16 countries? has evaluated the flexibility market to 16 billion €/year.
It means that players are only at the very beginning of a very important development of the flexibility market. How and why ?
As electrification is growing in Europe and the needs of consumers increase, the TSOs need to have access to new energy capacities, either to add them to the balancing system or to “erase” them. However, it becomes more and more complicated to create new capacities, because of the acceptability issues, and because the needs are sometimes very concentrated in duration and intensity, creating “peaks”.
Today there are more and more new technologies that meet these constraints of public acceptability, immediate availability and lower cost, all driven by a wave of digitalisation and artificial intelligence. These include storage, batteries, power to grid, electro-technical tools such as dynamic line rating (DLR), power to grid or power to X (including bi-directional charging of electric vehicles), and platforms aimed at residential and business customers to help them save electricity while ensuring that their consumption is CO2-free.
On their side, TSOs and DSOs are looking how to create synergies with these new stakeholders, while protecting their business model.
It's certainly no coincidence that the European Commission's plan to nurture future European unicorns (the EIC Scaling Club ) has chosen 3 start-ups in the flexibility sector (Heimdall, Eneida grids and Sympower), with a clear idea of the value they will create on the European market and well beyond.
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Heimdall Power ( https://heimdallpower.com/), a Norwegian company, founded in 2016 promises to increase the flows of 30% on the grids thanks to their solutions combining monitoring of grid capacity and health of the grid.
Eneida, a Portoguese company (https://eneida.io/) works with an operational analytics platform to help DSOs increase visibility, optimization and control on their low voltage network.
Sympower,( https://sympower.net/) a Dutch company enables commercial and industrial businesses to earn more from their energy assets by helping to balance the grid with its plaform
Other companies like Voltalis, Agregio, Esforin (https://www.esforin.com/), Fractal energy (https://fractalenergy.io/) or Grid Raven, (https://www.gridraven.com/)? answers to the challenges of the energy flexibility bringing their solutions.
This proposal for the Network Code on Demand Response has been prepared through transparent and active interactions with all stakeholders. The stakeholders’ input was consolidated with an early public consultation, two public workshops and the support of Entsoe.
The Network Code on Demand Response will facilitate the integration of technology-neutral demand side flexibility into related transmission and distribution system services for the overall benefit of consumers. This new Code:
What are the next steps:?ACER has now six months to review and amend the proposal in line with the framework guideline before submitting it to the European Commission.
No doubt that this code will be the first element of many others destined to build the frame of the flexibility market.
Pietro Grigorio Rabassi ; Georges Kariniotakis ; Fabien BERGER ; J?rgen Festervoll ; Joana Faria ; José Oliveira ; Christian H?velhaus ; Christoph Gardlo ; Christophe Gence-Creux ; Julia Padberg ; Vicky McIvor ; Mathilde Chareyron ; Mathilde Lallemand ; Yves Barlier ; Simon Bushell Mathieu Bineau ; Branislav Vujovic ; Alberto Garcia Picazo ; Lucas MAURICE
Public & Regulatory Affairs Director at Sympower
5 个月Really happy to get the opportunity to work together!