Flexibility Markets for Beginners

One of key groups identified as emerging and key to the development of flexibility markets are community energy groups, who were well represented at the latest round of community energy events taking place this summer.

Cardiff, Birmingham and Nottingham played host to ‘Flexibility Markets for Beginners’ workshops, in association with Regen, which aimed to explain the role of flexibility markets, the benefits of flexibility and how small scale generators and community energy groups can get involved. Each session was presented by Yiango Mavrocostanti, WPD Innovation and Low Carbon Networks Engineer, who explained how WPD is trialling flexibility markets through innovation projects such as Flexible Power and the Cornwall Local Energy Market, among others. 

Yiango said: “What we’ve learnt from the sessions is that communities care deeply about climate change which was great to see. While the primary focus for many is reducing consumption or building renewable generation, through these events we explained the importance of flexibility, as it can release network capacity and enable more low carbon technologies to connect. Secondly, communities highlighted the importance of ensuring that flexibility markets are kept simple so that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate. 

“In our next round of events, starting in October 2018 we will be explaining what the DNO to DSO transition means for communities and the potential future opportunities by discussing our DSO consultation results. Additionally, attendees will hear from community energy groups who have successfully run projects in the areas of electric transport and local supply. 

Find out more about recent and upcoming community events, along with more useful information tailored to community energy groups and projects on our Community Energy webpages.