According to a joint report published on Friday by two European Union agencies: the European Environment Agency and the European Energy Regulatory Authority (ACER). According to the report, this “flexibility” means ever-increasing investment, from pumped storage hydropower to new technologies such as batteries, as well as an increase in the number of consumers.

• The report was presented at a meeting of the energy directors general of the member states on Friday, October 20, in Madrid during the Spanish presidency of the EU Council.

Investments should be stimulated by price signals

“The flexibility of the EU’s energy system needs to almost double by 2030 to keep up with the increase in variable renewables,” the report says. This is in the context of the EU’s 2030 target of 42.5% renewable energy.

The report also shows that improving connectivity is important. It is necessary to build more cross-border networks and make better use of existing network capacities.

The need to supply energy from sources other than wind and solar must also be reduced.

At the same time, it is necessary to allow price signals to stimulate investment. (In Romania, until spring 2015, price signals are blocked under the conditions under which the cap-compensation scheme applies. Basically, we do not have a free market that would allow price signals).

The energy system must be adapted to the demand and supply of renewable resources

According to the report, “flexibility” is the ability of the supply system to adapt to fluctuations in energy production and consumption. With the transition to clean energy, other types of resource “flexibility” are needed, both on the supply and demand side. Currently, much of the “flexibility” that balances and ensures the stability of energy systems comes from fossil fuels (eg, gas).

In the future, the energy system must be adapted to the demand and supply of renewable sources through several climate-compatible flexible solutions.

• Demand flexibility can include: households that regulate their consumption, intelligent charging of electric vehicles, prosumers (consumers that generate their own electricity, for example with photovoltaic panels), energy efficient buildings.
• The flexibility of the supply can include: electricity storage, hydropower, renewable hydrogen energy and new technologies that can generate electricity in a short time.

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