Review of Main Projects, Characteristics and Challenges in Flexibility Markets for Services Addressed to Electricity Distribution Network

Abstract

The expansion of distributed renewable resources, together with increased demand from the electrification of transport and heating sectors, impacts distribution networks significantly. Additionally, the emergence of non-programmable and intermittent generators is set to diminish the dominance of traditional rotating and programmable generation, thereby affecting the overall stability of the system. Nevertheless, the flexibility offered by distributed resources has the potential to alleviate the necessity for network reinforcement and contribute to system stability at competitive costs. Local flexibility procurement should be rooted in local markets, serving as mechanisms to address distribution congestion and coordinate the provision of flexibility for transmission network services. The multitude of existing systems and the interdependence of flexibility services have given rise to diverse solutions, still undergoing experimentation in various countries. This paper aims to scrutinize key projects that have established local flexibility markets, delineating their fundamental characteristics, the most common solutions, identifying prevalent barriers and suggesting potential future improvements. The investigation focuses on the most uncertain aspects of local markets: possible TSO-DSO coordination schemes, the time horizon for the acquisition of services and the baseline definition methodologies.