03.2024 - 08.2024

Flexbook 2.0 – Flexibility Technologies in the electricity sector

Together with Uniper’s Innovation Radar and Ideation team, the FfE developed a comprehensive and detailed comparison of flexibility technologies in the electricity sector. The project identifies possible opportunities, risks and potential disruptors and is a continuation and update of the Flexbook study previously carried out at the FfE.

The project, which is divided into three phases, starts with a broad perspective in order to cover all potential flexibility technologies as comprehensively as possible, and increasingly focusses on individual promising technologies in more detail in the two subsequent phases.

In Phase 1, a structured collection and clustering of over 50 flexibility technologies was carried out. After a reduction based on an assessment of technological maturity and the selection of reference technologies, ten technologies were selected for further analysis.

Figure 1: Installed power and costs for flexibility provision in the balancing markets in the status quo for selected flexibility technologies in phase 2 of the project.

In phase 2, a techno-economic assessment of the selected technologies was conducted, analyzing the participation in five different markets: the day-ahead and intraday markets, as well as the FCR, aFRR and mFRR markets. The phase also includes the realistic ramp-up of the technologies as well as a comparison with the market potential. This enables an assessment of which technologies have the potential to significantly influence a market. In addition, qualitative assessments were given of the technical and regulatory requirements for market participation, the dependence on the regulatory framework and the multi-use potential.

In phase 3, six of the ten flexibility technologies were examined more closely in a specific market environment. Special attention was paid to the development of the legal framework, the analysis of current and future business models and the identification of potential disruptors. The results were compiled in a joint synthesis and aligned with the client’s experience.