Demand Side response

The 2023 Forecast Report from RTE designates flexibility as a "now central and cornerstone theme of the new Forecast Report". Demand flexibility ranks ninth among the 20 highlighted success factors by RTE and is described as a priority axis for optimizing the operation of the electrical system. More broadly, across Europe, the strong growth of renewables (+17 GW in Germany, +6 GW in Spain) has increasingly significant consequences on market price signals and the value of flexibility. RTE emphasizes the need for a managed scaling-up.

Among the subjects we will be attentive to in 2024:

1. The evolution of the market framework allowing for this scaling-up.

2. In particular, the impact of the future AOFD ("Appel d’Offre Flexibilité Décarbonée") on the supply;

3. More specifically, the integration into the AOFD framework of a multi-year provision was pending a European decision; in the absence of such a provision, what effect can be expected on investment decisions of sectors such as electricity curtailment that fall under "quasi-infrastructure" amortizable over several years?

4. Discussions on the future capacity mechanism, which is expected to enter into force by the end of 2026.

5. The evolution of price signals to remunerate flexibility in energy markets.