The energy supply system is undergoing a fundamental change. The transition to sustainable energy sources introduces more dynamic and distributed feeding of energy into the system compared to the former situation where the energy network was designed around big central controllable generation units.
The current European energy system is not yet designed to facilitate a more demand-driven energy system. The increased production of renewables across Europe, the current market design, national administrative burdens, and conflicting national measures including regulated energy prices, combined with an ageing infrastructure, paralyse the energy transition and more worryingly, prevent EU citizens to benefit from new smart technologies.
For this reason not only the energy networks have to change, but also more control mechanisms have to be introduced to keep the demand aligned with the generation and network capacity.
Consumers can play an active role by self-generation and pro-actively managing their demand according to their needs and the opportunities the system provides. Creating more flexibility in demand can reduce the necessary investments in the energy networks but increases the complexity of the system operation.
Download ESMIG’s key demands for a smart Energy Union below.