Introduction
Power distribution networks are increasingly exposed to decentralized and variable sources of weather-dependent renewable energy (RE) generation. This is because countries including India are gradually tapering down fossil-fuel based generation in favour of variable renewable energy (VRE) to advance their clean energy and net-zero goals.
It is becoming more challenging to manage the modern electricity grid and maintain an optimum mix of RE generation, while ensuring stability, reliability and security of supply. By creating flexibility in the electricity grid, we can develop its capacity to integrate VRE sources more efficiently so that the grid responds quickly to the changes in generation, recover faster from fluctuating conditions, and maintain stability. This paper explores the flexibility options for the electricity grid to make it secure, yet resilient enough to manage variability in generation and energy demand.
Flexibility Services in Smart Grids
Clean energy transition needs support of an advanced, intelligent electricity grid capable of accommodating intermittent RE sources, such as solar and wind. Unlike traditional grids designed for centralized, predictable generation, today’s smart grids need to integrate flexibility services to balance supply and demand dynamically, in real time. Flexibility services enhance energy reliability, security, optimized generation and grid stability, and have the following characteristics:
Adaptation to Change: Flexible power systems can quickly handle fluctuations in renewable energy generation and changes in demand patterns.
Resource Optimization: Flexibility enables efficient use of existing grid infrastructure and optimization of resources, which defers or avoids the need for costly upgrades.
RE Integration: Flexibility helps manage renewable energy intermittency more efficiently, supporting merit-based RE connections and grid stability.
Cost Efficiency: By introducing flexibility in grid operations, we can optimize resources, reduce breakdowns, and defer costly capital replacements or maintenance upgrades.
Classification of Flexibility Services
Flexibility services help in balancing energy supply, demand, and storage to reduce gap and maintain grid equilibrium, and can be classified as:
Demand-Side Flexibility: Customers can adjust their consumption based on price signals or grid conditions, and adopt end-use efficiency, to support balancing, as illustrated below:
Demand Response (DR) for Grid Balancing: DR programs incentivize customers to shift electricity usage to off-peak hours or during high RE generation. National Grid Electricity System Operator, UK has implemented DR schemes where industries are incentivized reduce energy consumption during peak hours, lowering stress on the grid.
Smart Home Energy Management System: Powered by AI, smart HEMS optimize household electricity usage based on price signals and grid conditions, promoting energy efficiency which reduces wastage and lowers electricity bills.
2. Supply-Side Flexibility: On-site localized generation from sources like Solar PV, Wind, Bio energy or BESS can provide flexibility and reduce reliance on centralized, fossil-based power plants. Integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) into the grid is optimized, with merit-based connections, to achieve cost efficiency, as illustrated below:
Virtual Power Plants (VPP) and Aggregated Flexibility: VPP integrates DERs such as Solar, Wind, Batteries or EVs into a unified, controllable resource operated from a single dashboard to optimize RE supply and merit-based connections, ensuring a more flexible and reliable grid.
Decentralized Energy Trading: This uses artificial intelligence (AI) to forecast energy demand and optimize generation schedules, according to machine learning (ML) models, based on DER availability, weather, energy prices and demand, without constraining the grid.
3. Storage-Based Flexibility: Energy storage system helps to mitigate the intermittency of VRE generation. BESS and other storage technologies store excess energy when generation exceeds demand and release when the grid needs it, as explained below:
Battery Energy Storage System (BESS): By storing excess solar or wind power, BESS ensures energy availability when generation fluctuates. Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia is a BESS implementation that provides grid support services by absorbing surplus energy and injecting stored energy into the grid during shortfall, thus improving reliability and stability.
Grid-Scale BESS: California’s energy sector uses BESS to improve RE dispatch capability by storing excess energy and releasing it when generation reduces or when energy is needed to address grid fluctuations.
Grid-Enabled Flexibility: This is leveraged using advanced grid technologies, for example:
AI-Enabled Grid Optimization: AI helps in predicting RE generation and energy demand to optimize consumption and grid stability. Google DeepMind AI works on predictive models to manage data center cooling, enhance energy efficiency, and reduce energy costs.
AI-Powered Energy Forecasting: Grid utilities employ machine learning (ML) models to improve predictions on supply and availability, which reduces balancing costs.
Network reconfiguration: Optimizing the topology of the distribution grid improves its ability to handle power flows and accommodate changes in generation and demand.
Benefits of Flexibility Services
Flexibility services offer the following benefits:
Improved Reliability: A flexible grid is more resilient to disruptions, improves fault tolerance, enables grid stability, and maintains reliable supply.
Reduced Costs: A flexible grid optimizes operation, allows early fault identification, enables predictive maintenance, defers costly maintenance and lowers CAPEX/ OPEX.
Increased Sustainability: Grid flexibility facilitates seamless integration of RE sources, contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable energy system.
Enhanced Grid Stability: Flexibility helps in maintaining voltage level and frequency within acceptable limits, so the grid becomes more reliable and stable.
Efficient RE Integration: A flexible grid supports higher share of RE mix such as wind and solar, without compromising on reliability, security, availability and quality of supply.
Grid Resilience: Flexibility ensures supply continuity during outages or demand peaks, with the ability to self-heal and recover quickly from grid contingencies.
Conclusion
As the global energy landscape shifts toward decentralization, decarbonization, and digitalization, flexibility services are imperative to transform the grid into an adaptive, efficient and self-healing network capable of supporting large-scale RE integration. Amidst changing energy lifestyle, flexibility services provide the foundation to a resilient grid that can respond to real-time changes in supply and demand, and support faster decision-making.
By leveraging demand response systems, storage solutions, VPPs and AI-based optimization, grid operators can ensure secure and reliable energy supply, paving the way to a sustainable electricity future. The path to a flexible grid is not defined by any single solution, but by an ecosystem of coordinated strategies to integrate diverse resources through intelligent controls and adaptive frameworks.
About the Author:
Mr. Jayant Sinha is a Senior Principal Consultant & Corporate Trainer (Energy & Utilities), EnTruist Power, with over 36 years of experience. He has led utility transformation projects in Grid modernization, T&D Automation, Smart Grids, SCADA, ADMS, EMS, DERMS, Electricity Regulations and Cyber Security in PSUs and multinational companies. He is an Accredited Management Teacher, Certified Sustainability Leader from Cambridge, UK, Certified Clean Energy Professional and Capgemini L5-certified Energy & Utilities Practitioner. He has been awarded for his work on Smart Utilities (Industry 4.0), Clean Energy Technologies and Sustainability. He has published over 30 technical papers in Energy & Power domain covering Smart Metering, Smart Grid, Microgrids, RE Systems, Green Hydrogen, Circular economy, Utility GIS, Industrial Cyber Security, Digital Twin and AI/ ML in Power Systems.
