Making better use of consumer flexibility
Many electricity consumers in Switzerland are flexible. If potential is exploited, this could make the construction of new power plants superfluous.
Swiss energy companies and the gas industry recommend a 12-point program to make better use of the flexibility of electricity consumers by 2020. This can be more beneficial to the national economy than investing in new power plants or expanding electricity grids.
Experts in Germany and abroad consider flexibility to be the key and success factor for the future energy system. Utilizing the flexibility of electricity consumers in the form of load shifting as well as decentralized electricity generation and storage would be more beneficial to the national economy than building new power plants and expanding the electricity grids.
Leading Swiss energy companies have published a joint study with the participation of the gas industry, investigated the potential and use of flexibility of Swiss electricity consumers in more detail and gained positive findings: There is a large technical potential for flexibility among electricity consumers in Switzerland. They are also willing to make this potential available. The possible applications for end-user flexibility investigated in the study showed that there are no technical obstacles. Today, these are rather to be found in the current energy policy/regulation as well as in the market design.
The contributors to the study recommend a 12-point program to reduce the existing barriers. This should create the necessary transparency, increase market efficiency, ensure non-discrimination and integrate the flexibility of Swiss electricity consumers into the energy system. This will benefit electricity consumers, the energy industry and technology providers, and is a prerequisite for innovation and growth.
The following companies participated in the study: Elektrizitätswerk des Kantons Schaffhausen, Swisscom Energy Solutions, Swissgrid and the Swiss Gas Industry Association VSG.
