The Discover stage involves a person finding the flexibility solutions which could provide the electricity outcomes they want. Discovering a short list of flexibility solutions involves a person looking at the full menu of flexibility options and completing a flexibility business case.

1. 1. Find out that flexibility can be an option. Finding out how flexibility can help involves a person first knowing to look, and then knowing where to get information about the menu of flexibility options. Awareness of flexibility options – what, when, where, how and why – is not widespread and flexibility is not routinely considered. People need to know the option exists.
   2. Prepare their flexibility business case. A flexibility business case involves a person getting the information and data inputs they need for their decision. The business case needs information and data to…

• • • a. …identify their preferences, ie, affordable, reliable, sustainable, and any constraints, eg, budget, time. Preferences are individual, but are defined relative to experience with, or understanding of reference points. People need to get reference information, including...
    1. 1. i. …their current retail pricing information.
          ii. …local/granular network capacity information.
          iii. …local/granular network reliability, resilience, quality information.
          iv. …local/granular emissions intensity information for electricity supply and other energy sources.

• • • b. …identify their individual flexibility purpose/use case(s) to achieve their preferred outcomes, eg, minimise electricity costs or manage reliability

• • 1. c. …identify the practical ways of getting each flexibility use case, eg, a solar/battery can reduce electricity costs and manage reliability, but may not be a practicable option for an inner-city apartment location.
• • • d. …assess the costs and benefits of practicable flexibility options for each outcome (versus a non-flexible base case). The CBA requires information and data, including:

• • • • i. …get actual and forecast usage data to provide the Q in PxQ calculations.
      • ii. …get prices for all electricity services available to buy/sell (current and forecast) to provide the P in PxQ calculations.
      • iii. …get network connection options and costs to identify the physical and contractual connection options and the associated costs and benefits.

3. Complete a feasibility study for using the preferred flexibility option(s) to obtain the desired electricity outcome(s). The feasibility study, depending on the shortlist of solutions, could involve picking a flexible device, knowing it can be installed, identifying any network connection changes and picking someone to be the market interface. The purpose is to answer practical questions about the feasibility of installing, commissioning and using (to maximum benefit) the flexibility option(s) to obtain the desired electricity outcomes prior to a final investment decision. A person will need to…

• • a. …select the flexible device.

• • b. …identify the device installation requirements and process.

• • c. …identify the network connection solutions if the flexibility solutions or device requires a new or upgraded connection or agree specific connection arrangements with the distributor.

• • d. …identify potential retailers and/or flexibility coordinators to be the market interface agent if the flexibility solution involves integrating the device into the electricity market.

4. Make the final investment decision, and make financing and payment arrangements, to say yes to flex. The final investment decision involves a person writing a cheque or getting finance.

The Enable stage involves a person implementing their flexibility solutions by working through the purchase, installation and commissioning processes required to achieve the desired outcomes. Enabling flexibility solutions involves a person taking 3 main actions – purchasing, installing and commissioning – their flexibility solutions. Each of these actions relies on the back-office processes and practices of parties across the electricity ecosystem.

• 5.Purchase and/or contract with an agent for the selected flexibility solution. A physical solution is any device or equipment that can be flexible, eg, solar panels, a heat pump, EV charger or a smart plug. A services solution is an arrangement to get a service which enables flexibility, eg, to get a software tool like Powerswitch, or to agree a contract allowing a retailer or flexibility coordinator to get a desired outcome by managing flexibility resources. The purchase and contracting actions rely on ‘back office’ processes across the electricity ecosystem.

• • a. …purchasing a physical solution, eg, a device or equipment, involves a person:

• • • i. identifying a device has the required minimum flexibility functionality before buying it.

• • • ii. identifying a device meets all relevant market/technical/connection standards before buying it.

• • • iii. identifying the network connection application and delivery process for devices requiring a new or upgraded connection or agree specific connection arrangements with the distributor.

• • b. …contracting a service solution, eg, software tool or a flexibility coordination service, involves a person

• • • i. contracting with the agent/flexibility coordinator offering the product they want. This requires

• • • A. back-office processes enabling the agent to easily and routinely establish counterparty relationships with other participants, eg, with a distributor, System Operator or a retailer, particularly by minimising the transaction costs of exchanging flexibility and contracting.

• • • • B. identifying the impact of contract terms, particularly about risk allocation, obligations, costs and prices.

6. Installing the physical and/or service solution involves a person plugging in a device or signing up to a service. A supplier/installer may be involved, eg, to rewire things, put solar panels on the roof or bolt an EV charger to the wall.

7. Commissioning the physical and/or service solution involves getting it ready to operate, eg, by confirming a device is talking to the system, or is safely wired and operating according to relevant technical settings. There may be back office processes.

• a. …integrating the resource into the market/system by recording in a central registry information about the flexibility resource and its use case.

• b. …for the buyer to ensure the resource meets technical qualification criteria for the relevant flexibility use case.

The Operate stage involves a person operating and receiving the benefits of their flexibility solutions. Operating flexibility solutions involves a person responding to external signals, perhaps sometimes asking the service(s) provider how to resolve a problem or asking to switch products or providers to reflect changed circumstances, preferences or opportunities. Each of these actions relies on the back-office processes and practices of parties across the electricity ecosystem.

• • 8. Responding to external cash and non-financial signals. Responding to external signals involves a person directly or indirectly (via a service provider) operating their flexible resources to maximise the benefits from the cash signals for transmission capacity management, distribution capacity management, electricity supply and ancillary services and meet any non-financial signals affecting the operation of their flexible resources, eg, voltage management or power outages. The external signals come from parties across the electricity supply chain. The signals must be created and then sent.

• • a. …creating the signals involves back-office processes:

• • • i. measure network conditions at key locations, eg, substations, transformers, to get asset utilisation, asset health and quality of supply data. These data are the triggers for using flexibility (ie, the signal).

• • • ii. granular usage and operational data to forecast future network conditions and power system analysis.

• • • iii. planning and investment practices routinely include planning to buy flexibility (via a cash signal).

• • • iv. …operational practices for network capacity management which accommodate and provide opportunities for flexible resources, eg, flexible connection agreements or dynamic operating envelopes.

• • b. …sending the signals involves back-office processes:

• • • i. to find flexibility (sometimes called procurement).

• • • ii. to contract the flexibility.

9. Resolving any problems requires parties across the ecosystem making it easy for people to contact someone who can help when their flexibility solution is not working as it should, either due to a hardware fault, a software fault or an external system fault.

10. Switching products or service providers is a necessary condition for people to maximise the value and benefits of their flexible resources to account for changed circumstances, preferences or opportunities. Switching flexibility products and providers involves back-office processes that extend the existing retailer switching processes to flexibility coordinators.

Pretty straightforward…

Check out Flexibility Plan 2.0 for the steps FlexForum reckons are needed to make the flexibility journey easier and more routine.

Yes, … the people power pun is 100% intentional. Even better is it’s true.