Flexibility Aggregators in the Future Energy System

The energy system has been a rigid, reliable and stable system for decades. With the recent years great efforts to transition to green energy, we suddenly find ourselves challenged by a system outdated and designed for another time and another type of production. The need for a redesigned energy system and energy market is becoming more evident. We are not only in the middle of a revolutionary transition on the energy production side, we are also just in the beginning of the great transformation of the energy system in its whole.

As we have an increased, and still growing, part of renewable energy production, the energy sector grows more sustainable. However, the renewable energy production is typically dependent on the weather, which we all know is unpredictable. That means the plannability of energy production is decreasing. The energy system needs to always be in balance; the consumption must meet the production and vice versa. If we cannot control the production as we historically have, we need to turn to the other end of the rope; adapting the consumption.

As most regular households and private customers have a very small consumption compared to the total consumption in Sweden, one single consumer cannot contribute much on its own. But if you bundle a big number of low-volume consumers together, you get a significant volume of consumption which can be used to balance the energy system.

This is where the aggregator role has entered the energy system. They aggregate, or bundle, many small energy consumers and small-scale producers using IT and smart technology to balance the system. Capgemini Invent have conducted a market study to unveil the future of the aggregator role with regards to the big changes in the energy market in its whole. Read this Point of View to discover what the aggregator role is and its possible role in the future energy system.