Across Europe, participants in the electricity system have been changing rapidly. From a one-directional energy flow that went from traditional generation to consumers, to a circular electricity system, where renewable energies, storage, electric vehicles and prosumers now play an active role in both withdrawing and injecting electricity.
While suitable for most current and traditional technologies, the network code design is not designed to take full advantage of innovative technologies in the new decentralised energy landscape. The network codes depend on the definition of asset classes that are not suited for new technologies. For example, storage does not fit in the traditional definition of asset classes, which are either generation or demand. Storage can be a generation or consumption asset or both at the same time. Classifying resources incorrectly in one asset class limits the services it can provide, hindering its development, business case and the possibility for the system operator to use lower cost resources for balancing the grid.The alternative to asset classes is to define the services required by the grid in a technology-agnostic way and allow different technologies to provide them. For this approach to work, smartEn calls ENTSO-E, ACER and the European Commission to shape a strategy to adapt those network codes, that are still built upon the concept of asset classes.
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