We gave this advice to the Energy Competition Taskforce on its 3 proposals to incentivise and motivate people to be flexible.
The advice was developed through Member workshops between September and November 2024 and a further workshop in February 2025. The thinking behind this advice is detailed in the FlexForum Insights: Filling holes in the value stack will let people and their flexibility do more.
Our advice is to deal with the root causes of the problem which are insufficient financial and non-financial incentives for retailers and network operators, collectively, to overcome the barriers getting in the way of flexibility friendly customer propositions:
·Practical and capability-related barriers to investing in learning to build experience in procuring, deploying and using flexibility and to integrate flexible resources into the system
·Financial and risk-related barriers to routinely buying flexibility at scale.
The 3 proposals from the Taskforce are a good starting point, and, with improvements to effectively address the root causes, they could help to fill the biggest holes in the value stack by leading to additional fit-for-purpose cash signals which dependably motivate a flexible response to unpredictable events experienced across the supply chain.
Check out the package of solutions we think can address the root causes of the problem and underpin a wider range of customer propositions to give people the option and opportunity to maximise the value of their flexible resources across all the ways that flexibility can benefit the system.
Four universities are FlexForum Members and contribute their insights and research experience to what we do. Each has extensive flexibility research interests and are keen to collaborate with the electricity ecosystem to learn more.
Here is a snapshot of the flexy research interests of the Sustainable Energy Research Group (SERG) at the University of Canterbury and the ANU Centre for Energy Systems (ACES).
Go talk to them if you want to know more about what research they have done, are doing, or want to do!
At the University of Canterbury, SERG focuses on energy research from national-scale pathways to city-scale transitions. They focus on topics like renewable energy integration, power-to-X systems, resilience, transition pathways, energy storage, and environmental impacts.
Established in 2024, ACES is an amalgamation of research groups within the ANU School of Engineering, including the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program (BSGIP) and the 100 Percent Renewable Energy Group (RE100). The Centre undertakes research, development and demonstration projects that aim to accelerate a just energy transition drawing together research and professional staff working on key areas of energy transition including socio-techno-economic analysis, multi-energy system modelling, the electrification of transport, pumped hydro energy storage, perovskite and tandem solar cell development and green hydrogen.
Flexibility is a research focus due to its central role in a transitioning energy system. By better understanding the dynamic and diverse ways in which real people live everyday life, and in the process consume energy, the energy sector can prepare more effectively and support their customers.
ACES has been involved in several projects that consider various aspects of flexible demand within the energy sector, with a focus on the role of the customer.
· Customer-focused network management
· Evolve: smart software for the orchestration of 21st century electricity systems
· Converge: exploring the grid participation of Distributed Energy Resources
· Edith: empowering consumers and energising the grid through dynamic pricing
· New energy VOICEs (Victorian energy and water Ombudsman Investigation into Consumer Experiences)
