Managing Energy Flexibility on the Grid

SMOOTHING RENEWABLES VOLATILITY

Conventional wisdom is that as the share of renewables increases, so does grid instability.

Flexibility is the grid’s ability to manage variability and volatility to balance supply and demand.

While traditional ways of managing grid volatility have focused on fossil fuel back-up, a new landscape presents novel approaches to managing and delivering flexibility across the value chain.

This report focuses on approaches emerging to leverage inherent flexibility, and to provide flexibility services to the grid.

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FIVE OBSERVATIONS

Accenture analyzed what is happening in the evolving energy system by looking at a wide range of select cases. We contrasted the largest pure-play, grid-scale storage investments, to the local aggregation and management of DERs, with in-front-of-meter storage and demand management.

We uncovered five key observations:

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Batteries and innovative commercial optimization models are unlocking value pools to help improve grid stability and increase security of supply.

Industrial and residential consumers are increasingly moving toward renewable purchasing and self-generation.

Clarify what is a big bet and what is a pilot

New entrants with new approaches to managing energy demand and supply are entering and disrupting the market.

Most players are piloting multiple models to manage flexibility.

Collaborate via partnerships and alliances

The landscape of emerging flexibility models varies by geography and continues to evolve.

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CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

The market is moving quickly. We are seeing countless innovations, and there is a huge variety of different models and players across the value chain.

There are a few critical success factors for all players. In addition, there are specific recommendations for power generators, network operators and energy retailers.