FLEXCON2025: Powering the Future of Energy Flexibility

In the conference we heard about a residential area in Amsterdam that received push notifications on their mobile phones to turn off the electricity, to residential areas with control systems (HEMS - Home Energy Management Systems) for automatic control to reduce maximum load. Smart solutions and profitability analyses for electric cars and charging systems were also discussed. Although V2G is still a bit ahead, there are many companies working on solutions for this and see this as a great potential for solving many grid problems.

BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) was also well mentioned, especially in relation to solar production. Companies with large solar installations of more than 3000 panels presented how they participated in mFRR markets and other markets.

In large parts of Europe, there is still a long way to go before everyone has AMS meters. Some countries have come a long way, but there are big differences. The Netherlands has about 80% smart meters, while other countries have maybe 2-5%.

On day 2, there were several interesting lectures on energy communities within the residential sector and commercial buildings that showed how it was possible to cooperate in a neighborhood. Here, sharing energy was a main topic in addition to looking at how this can alleviate the load on the power grid.

It was interesting to see the developments from the FlexCON conference in 2024, and how new solutions and ideas are developing in an exciting way. Every year we learn something new and get an insight into how flexibility is developing in Europe.