Arup, Energy Systems Catapult, Electron and partners set to boost flexibility of the UK’s energy system through digitalisation

Flexibility markets enable price signals to be established at the distribution level to provide greater options for network operators so they can help bring down costs for consumers. These markets integrate smart meters, smart appliances, renewable energy resources, and energy-efficient resources.

This project is Phase 2 of the Flexibility Markets Unlocked competition for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which is part of the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).

The consortium will bring together and develop three components of the solution which will benefit organisations and consumers seeking to best utilise their flexibility by offering it into different markets efficiently. This is whilst helping to develop thorough standardisation and interoperability, with consistent data governance and a methodology for defining primacy rules:

• Universal Market Register (UMR)
  The UMR creates a universal identity for Flexibility Service Providers (FSPs), enabling identity portability across multiple market platforms with ease. The UMR integrates with existing registers providing a service that shares relevant registration details seamlessly throughout the flexibility ecosystem 

• Flexibility Data Standards (FDS)
  FDS enables users to digitally engage with flexibility markets in a consistent and interoperable way, underpinning the FSP’s entire customer journey. The UMR requires FDS to address the challenge of information transparency through a common data model and schema within the Enterprise Data Architecture 

• Primacy Rules Test Bed (PRTB)
  PRTB will serve as a shared framework and digital toolkit for testing different algorithmic primacy rules and their impact. It will extract flexibility market data from data sources across the flexibility ecosystem into a cloud-based analytics platform where the primacy rules implications can be assessed. 

Simon Evans, Global Digital Energy Leader, Arup commentated: “Through our collective expertise, the consortium intends to build a proof of concept and test solutions for the Universal Market Register, Flexibility Data Standards, and Primacy Rules Test Bed during Phase 2. This includes integrations with the Electron’s ElectronConnect and Piclo’s PicloMax platforms and with Greensync’s Central Asset Register for low carbon technology devices. We look forward to working together to boost flexibility of the UK’s energy system through digitalisation.”

In 2023, the consortium successfully secured funding from the DESNZ for Phase 1 of Flexibility Markets Unlocked, where they carried out a feasibility study assessing the development of innovative technical solutions to facilitate system-wide integration of multiple flexibility markets.

Dr Richard Dobson, Head of Digital and Data, Energy Systems Catapult said: “We’re very excited to continue working with the great team on Flexibility Markets Unlocked. We will build on the Data Sharing Infrastructure blueprint to develop and test the shared digital infrastructure that will support a future flexible digitalised energy system and accelerate net zero energy innovation".

Jo-Jo Hubbard, CEO of Electron added: “Electron stands for driving flexibility at scale. This means simultaneously unlocking more value for volume in flexibility market services, to create a flywheel effect, as value drives further volume and volume drives further value. However, the friction around market entry is holding back that flywheel and slowing scale. We're excited to continue working with the Flexibility Markets Unlocked consortium, as we continue to remove that friction, lower barriers to entry and open flexibility to everyone through an open ecosystem."