System Flexibility

The ability of the Power System to respond to both expected and unexpected changes in the Supply Demand Balance, including Generation Plant failures, fluctuations in Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) output and variations in Demand over all necessary timeframes. 

Historically, dispatchable Synchronous Generation provided the majority of System Flexibility.  As the proportion of Synchronous Generation declines, and growing levels of operational Volatility are experienced with the scale deployment of VRE and Consumer Energy Resources (CER/DER), large volumes of Flexibility services will be needed from a wide range of new sources.  This is expected to include:  

a) Pumped Hydro resources;  

b) Large-scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS);  

c) Millions of participating Consumer Energy Resources (CER/DER) including small-scale BESS; and,  

d) Much deeper sector couplings with adjacent energy vectors (gas, hydrogen, etc), transport systems and industrial processes. 

Given the fast-evolving nature of power system transformation, the Future Grid Accelerator (FGA) has the status of a perpetual BETA version. Your suggestions for how each concept and definition may be enhanced are very welcome.

All feedback will be reviewed and considered for inclusion in subsequent updates.

Please provide your suggestions to improve to this definition: