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What is flexibility?

The way to become a player in your energy consumption

Electrical flexibility, or load shifting, is the ability of Flexible Power Solutions to pay you to modulate your electricity consumption and participate in the balancing of the electrical network.

 

Coping with consumption peaks

France is experiencing increasing peaks in electricity consumption. These peaks are noticeable mainly in the morning and evening during the coldest winter days. 

These imbalances in the electricity network are due in particular to the emergence of new consumption patterns and a change in the energy mix: 
•    Development of Renewable Energies by nature intermittent
•    Increased need for electric heating 
•    Changes in air conditioning requirements 
•    Development of electric mobility
•    Closure of thermal power plants that are too polluting
•    Moving from a centralized to a decentralized system
 

An efficient and profitable solution 

Today, load shedding mainly concerns industrial companies that are large consumers of electricity. In exchange for the load shifting capacity, the industrialist is paid via an aggregator who has the necessary technical approvals, the know-how and who manages the risks on his behalf. 

Concrete benefits: 

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Mobilizable 

without investment

electrical network

Decarbonization

Value

Contract

Income

Stable and sustainable additional 

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For a long time, the method used to offset the increased need for electricity during days of tension consisted in increasing the production of electricity by starting up controllable production plants known as peak power plants (coal, fuel oil, gas). This is a costly solution, given the few hours of the year involved, and it emits a lot of carbon equivalent. 

 

Valuation mechanisms and markets

Several mechanisms exist and numerous optimizations are possible to make the most of our industrial customers' load shifting capacities. 

As an aggregator, our role is to advise and support them in order to minimise their constraints and maximise their income by taking into account various parameters: time slots and duration of shaving, advance notice before activation, fixed and variable parts of the remuneration, possible penalties in case of renunciation, etc.
 

The different mechanisms :

  • Capacity Mechanism 
  • Call for tenders for load shedding
  • Primary Reserve: FCR
  • Secondary Reserve: aFRR
  • Tertiary Reserve: Quick Reserves / Supplementary Reserves

The different valuation markets :

 

  • Balancing Mechanism (BM), managed directly by RTE.
  • NEBEF, Managed by EPEX, EEX
     

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