Our purpose is to make it easier for households, businesses and communities to maximise the value of their energy resources and flexibility to:
support affordable and reliable operation of the electricity market and power system.
enable accelerated electrification by households and businesses as part of the transition in Aotearoa New Zealand to a zero emissions economy.
Households, businesses and communities increasingly own and use technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, batteries and smart devices. These technologies can respond to signals and operate flexibly to reduce power bills, help keep the lights on and reduce carbon emissions.
Flexibility is integral to a smart, consumer-centric power system for Aotearoa New Zealand. It can help support economic growth, reduce carbon emissions, and deliver a reliable, resilient and affordable power supply.
FlexForum was established in 2023 as an incorporated society to coordinate action across the electricity ecosystem to ensure market settings, capabilities and practices are being developed at pace to enable flexibility and accelerate electrification.
We are an evidence-based collective that brings together diverse expertise to develop a neutral, whole-of-system view of the opportunities and challenges of activating flexibility. Through frequent engagement and knowledge sharing, we help turn fragmented learning into coordinated action across the sector.
Our work centres on maintaining the Flexibility Plan, a reference point for the actions needed to deliver a smart, flexible and consumer-centric power system. The plan identifies the tasks, dependencies, gaps in effort and opportunities so the sector can better coordinate efforts and make the most of limited resources.
We provide a space where all parts of the electricity ecosystem can share their experience and perspective. Through knowledge sharing, practical reality-checking, and a whole-of-system approach, members can stay ahead of change, pool scarce resources, inform thinking and help drive coordinated action across the sector.
Our core FlexForum activities are focused on strengthening coordination, improving design decisions, and accelerating implementation of the Flexibility Plan:
Our work focuses on what Members see as key flexibility priorities for the sector, including:
Flexibility is a key enabler of New Zealand’s energy transition.
Increasingly, households, businesses and communities are investing in solar, batteries, electric vehicles, hot water control, heat pumps and other technologies that can support flexibility. Flexibility gives households and businesses greater choice and control over their energy costs and outcomes. Done well, flexibility can lower bills, strengthen community resilience and help ensure the benefits of the energy transition are shared more fairly, creating a truly consumer-centric electricity market and system.
Flexibility also plays an important role in maintaining a reliable and affordable electricity supply. It provides a tool to efficiently respond to increasing amounts of variable electricity generation (eg, wind and solar) and reducing pressure on transmission and distribution network infrastructure.
The next few years are critical for flexibility progress. New Zealand needs to be ready to harness the full potential and value of flexibility to avoid large infrastructure investments being made that would not be needed by a smart, flexible power system. By developing the market settings, capabilities and practices needed to integrate flexible resources, we can maintain reliability and resilience, avoid unnecessary infrastructure investment, and help households and businesses make informed electrification decisions.
FlexForum members are working to make it easier for households, businesses and communities to maximise the value of their energy resources and their flexibility. In doing so, members are helping to support the affordable and reliable operation of the electricity system and enable accelerated electrification by households and businesses as part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s transition to a zero-emissions economy.
