Accelerating the adoption of Demand Response in European markets

Our partnership with innovative Finnish retailer Väre

Flexibility is a crucial component of a sustainable energy system, as it temporarily adjusts power generation and consumption based on its value and the grid’s needs. As part of this, demand response can play a significant role in providing a cost-efficient and secure electricity supply and a stable electricity grid.

At a DR4EU event in early May, relevant parties discussed how the recent EU electricity directive can support the development of demand response to make space for more renewables in the European energy mix. Participants included EER – European Energy Retailers, Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), DG Ener (the EU institution behind the Clean Energy Package), and Compass Lexecon.

Participants shared views on the regulatory framework to allow demand response participation in all electricity markets and best practice examples of various stakeholders. In this context, our Finnish Operations Manager Katja Hollmén presented a practical example of demand response in a collaboration between Sympower as the aggregator (BSP) and Väre, a retailer (BRP).

Väre is an innovative retailer concentrating on different electricity-related services. The company started in 2019 as a merger between Savon Voima, Kuopion Energia, Alva and Lappeenrannan Energia. Väre wanted to collaborate with Sympower in order to add demand response as a service in their portfolio as their customers had shown interest.

Together, both companies helped a greenhouse in Finland to create extra revenues with minimal effort, while the greenhouse lowers its CO2 emissions. The partnership between Sympower and Väre enables the Finnish retailer to expand its offer while staying focused on its core services.

This collaboration once more emphasizes the need for independent aggregators in the European energy system. They bring the flexibility needed for a 100 % renewable energy system and make demand response effortless to retailers. Therefore, Sympower strongly advocates for creating the role of the independent aggregator in all European countries.