Grid Flexibility needs EU harmonisation of data requirements
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With growing renewables and electrification, the energy system will need to massively grow its flexibility resources, by a factor of 7 by 2050 according to the JRC. Flexibility from demand (demand response) represents a massive, untapped potential for flexibility services.
The Network Code for Demand Response is fostering the growth of the demand response industry. Yet, while the code proposes a necessary harmonisation of demand response market functioning and products, it fails to propose harmonised rules for data exchange with grid operators and relevant parties.
As currently written, Europe’s emerging flexibility service providers would face a fragmented landscape of thousands of different data exchange practices employed by system operators across the EU, forcing solar and storage manufacturers to adapt their products to each national market. This fragmentation makes it impossible for businesses to scale and misses the opportunity for a cost-efficient energy transition and sector decarbonisation.
The network code on Demand Response can start the harmonisation process by requiring relevant entities to work on such harmonisation, in the spirit of the Draghi report and of the political guidelines of this Commission. Specifically, the legislation must:
Mandate harmonisation of key data exchanges across market players
This will enable the DER industry—such as PV's smart inverters, residential storage, and smart bidirectional EV chargers—to streamline market participation, lower entry barriers, and optimize the use of embedded Dedicated Measurement Devices (DMDs).
Require grid operators to set preferred European standards for market interfaces
In addition, system operators should be mandated to propose a new standardised interface (flexibility information system) within 12 months of the entry into force of the regulation. A default reference model should be adopted, with Member States allowed to deviate only under specific conditions.
Expand on the data exchange interactions behind the meter, in coordination with the Implementing Regulation
In coordination with the work being developed under the Implementing Regulation include additional needed data exchanges beyond those to/from the flexibility information system (e.g. Home Energy Management Systems to DER, service provider to aggregator).
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