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In November 2019, the Association for Renewable Energy & Clean Technology (REA) published the first Energy Transition Readiness Index (ETRI). The report assessed the readiness of selected European electricity markets for the energy transition, from the perspective of private investors in flexibility services that support the deployment of renewable power and decarbonisation. This report assessed progress across nine Western European countries. The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Ireland ranked highest while Germany, UK and France lagged behind.
This 2021 ETRI study updates the ranking of the original nine countries to measure progress over the last two years, and has added Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, making a total of 12 countries. The report describes some of each country’s key electricity market characteristics, assessing the current and future need for flexibility resources.
As for the 2019 report, the assessment and scoring was based on a survey of expert stakeholders across the different countries/regions selected, followed up by one-to-one interviews to understand the underlying reasons for responses.
Success in reducing carbon emissions across Europe will depend on the readiness of all countries – both within and outside the EU – to embrace the potential of flexibility assets to help ease the integration of renewables as fossil fuel generation is wound down. High volumes of new flexibility resources will be needed, especially in the major European economies of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, if 2030 decarbonisation targets are to be met, and markets will need reform to attract private investment in energy flexibility assets. The assets envisaged include intelligently managed EV chargers, battery and thermal energy storage as well as grid-interactive data centres.
There is a mismatch between ambition and action in most countries, with larger economies faring worst. It is considered that major European economies face greater challenges because they present barriers to investment in the form of rules and policies that are generally more complex, exacerbated by market design that is strongly influenced by incumbents.
Flexibility is defined as the ability of electricity generation or customer demand to increase or decrease output. It is needed to respond to changing electricity system conditions and does this by providing flexibility services to electricity markets. These services provide support to balance generation and demand and stabilise the electricity system within operational limits especially when unexpected changes occur. The key flexibility resources are:
The report concludes that most countries are facing a huge flexibility challenge and prompt action is needed to achieve energy transition targets. The report has three main recommendations:
