Strained Power Grids Test Flexible Market Solution
Jun 5, 2024
auto_awesome
Sanjeet Sanghera, BloombergNEF’s Head of Grids and Utilities, and Felicia Aminoff discuss Europe's innovative local flexibility markets to manage grid constraints. They cover mechanisms to create flexibility markets, potential scale, required technology, and regulatory models. The podcast explores the challenges of aging infrastructure, the rise of local flexibility markets, tenders in the energy sector, achieving net zero targets, and the impact of electric vehicles on grid flexibility.
Local flexibility markets enable utilities to manage grid constraints by leveraging distributed energy resources like electric vehicles.
Regulatory models and advanced technologies play crucial roles in ensuring grid reliability and scaling local flexibility markets.
Deep dives
Overview of Grid Flexibility Challenges
The podcast episode begins by highlighting the challenges faced by power grids worldwide, ranging from aging infrastructure to incorporating intermittent energy sources like solar power and the increased demand from electric vehicles. Grid operators constantly balance supply and demand across different time ranges to ensure system reliability but struggle with inflexible technology. The emergence of local flexibility markets is introduced as a solution to these grid challenges, enabling utilities to adapt and ensure continuous power availability.
Role of Local Flexibility Markets
Local flexibility markets are run by distribution grid operators to manage increasing low carbon technologies at the grid level, such as rooftop solar installations and electric vehicles. These markets facilitate payments to individuals or companies for providing flexibility in energy consumption or generation. By incentivizing flexibility through market mechanisms, operators can optimize grid operations by balancing supply and demand in a cost-effective manner.
Regulatory Impact on Flexibility
Regulatory models mandating flexibility standards play a key role in ensuring grid reliability and integrating distributed energy resources. Regulatory requirements, like grid codes, historically targeted large generators for providing flexibility but are adapting to the rise of distributed resources. The evolution towards market-based flexibility solutions is observed as a more agile approach to sourcing flexibility from diverse assets.
Technological Advances in Grid Flexibility
To scale local flexibility markets, advanced technologies like distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) and tendering platforms are essential. These systems enable operators to control and operate the grid efficiently, while facilitating bidding processes for flexibility services. The integration of automation and software-controlled devices, such as electric vehicle chargers, is crucial for leveraging residential assets in providing grid flexibility.
As already-strained power grids grapple with rapidly increasing demand, Europe is pioneering an innovative and powerful new tool to help system operators manage grid constraints. These local flexibility markets help balance electricity supply and demand by enabling distributed energy resources, such as electric vehicles or storage operators, to solve grid bottlenecks.
On today’s show, Dana is joined by BloombergNEF’s Head of Grids and Utilities, Sanjeet Sanghera, along with Felicia Aminoff, lead author of the recent BNEF report, Europe’s Local Flexibility Markets: Aiding a Strained Grid. Together they discuss the mechanisms that can be used to create a flexibility market, the potential scale of future markets and the technology required to grow them, and the existing regulatory models that underpin flexibility in an energy system.
Complementary BNEF research on the trends driving the transition to a lower-carbon economy can be found at BNEF<GO> on the Bloomberg Terminal or on bnef.com