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Brussels eyes grid flexibility to reduce reliance on pricey fossil fuels

(EurActiv, 6 Apr 2023) The European Commission is proposing new measures to help the EU power grid adapt to changes in demand, aiming to reduce reliance on pricey fossil fuels and enable more renewables to come online.

As Europe moves away from fossil fuels, its power market is shifting from a model dominated by a few big power plants to a more dispersed energy system with a growing number of intermittent producers of solar and wind energy.

Consumption patterns are shifting too. As households massively turn to electric cars and solar rooftop systems, they are becoming active consumers – or “prosumers” – able to store electricity and feed it back into the grid.

To enable a smoother transition, the European Commission tabled a revision of the EU power market in March, with measures to improve the grid’s ability to respond to changes in supply and demand – known as flexibility.

The need for short-term flexibility will drastically increase as more renewables come online because they are variable and weather forecasts get more accurate closer to the time of delivery, said Mathilde Lallemand-Dupuy, a policy officer working on the internal energy market at the European Commission.

“Today, it’s possible [to trade] cross border until up to one hour before the time of delivery. We want to push it towards 30 minutes,” she said at a recent EURACTIV event on the topic.

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EurActiv, 6 Apr 2023: Brussels eyes grid flexibility to reduce reliance on pricey fossil fuels