Markets in Sweden

Multiple markets in different areas are currently active in Sweden.

Effekthandel Väst is a local market in the Gothenburg/Mölndal region, where Göteborg Energi Nät and Mölndal Energi Nät buy flexibility as reservation and activation products. 

ElnätsFLEX is a local market in the Eskilstuna and Strängnäs region, where Eskilstuna Energi och Miljö Elnät and SEVAB Nät buy flexibility services as reservation and activation products.

Use cases related to flexibility

School Building Flexibility

School Building Flexibility: Unlocking the Potential of Everyday Energy Assets

Schools are more than places of learning. They are energy-consuming buildings equipped with systems that, when managed intelligently, could provide flexibility to the electricity grid while creating additional value for the institutions themselves.

Coordinating Flexibility Procurement for a Secure and Reliable Grid

Flexibility markets are becoming a key instrument for system operators to manage congestion and unlock capacity in distribution grids. But flexibility activation without coordination between system operators can create new grid constraints instead of solving them.

Volvo cars and Göteborg Energi elnät use V2G technology in Flexibility market

For the first time, electric car batteries have delivered power directly to the local power grid in Gothenburg. This is a breakthrough for the so-called Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology.

Automated Flexibility Trading

There are several challenges grid operators face on a daily basis. Here are a few examples of how GridTools and NODES™ can help solve those with two solutions combined in a new digital flexibility value-chain.

Potential of Batteries in a DSO Market

By stacking multiple value streams, battery storage can improve its business case while supporting grid stability. The flexibility market operated by NODES offers a viable solution for battery storage assets to participate in a structured and transparent DSO market.

Capacity Flex Arrangement (CFA)

Using Flexible Capacity Arrangements (FCAs), System Operators can offer available grid capacity to Operators of Wind, Solar and other Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) to avoid curtailments and increase the share of renewable energy in the grid. 

A virtual fuse contract

In winter, there is a challenge in cold climate areas between certain specific times when the load is high, and power peaks in the electricity grid can appear. The peak in the grid can cause high stress to the electricity network. By capping electricity consumption between certain specific times when the load is high, power peaks in the electricity grid can be reduced.

NODES™ demonstrates ease of market set-up using the UK Power Networks Open Data Portal

UK Power Networks has developed an Open Data Portal. This video demonstrates how easy it is to set up the NODES™ marketplace in the UKPN license area

sthlmflex: Market-based TSO-DSO coordination through regional flexibility market

Svenska kraftnät, Ellevio, and Vattenfall Eldistribution have launched sthlmflex to test a regional flexibility market in the Stockholm area to bridge the capacity gap that can be experienced during winter months.

FlexLab: Operating reservation contracts in the activation market

Operating reservation contracts in the activation market.

IntraFlex: Trading flexibility closer to real-time

Operating closer to real-time should allow new participants to access the markets whilst key features such as a day ahead information services, as well as an auto-rebalancing function to the intra-day market,

NorFlex: making local flexibility available to Transmission System Operator (TSO) – mFRR market

Enabling local flexibility available to Transmission System Operator (TSO) – mFRR market in Norway. A sequential market for TSO-DSO coordination.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a local flexibility market?

A market where the local grid company, end-consumers and other service providers work together to utilize the grid more efficiently. The grid company will buy flexibility.

What is a Flexibility Service Provider (FSP)?

An FSP is a company that sells flexibility. This could be the end-consumer himself or an aggregator representing the end-consumer. It could be the end-consumer’s energy retailer that acts as the aggregator, but it does not have to be.

Who can become an FSP?

As a private end-consumer, you need to participate through an aggregator, where the aggregator acts as your FSP.

As a company end-consumer, you can be your own FSP or use an aggregator that acts as your FSP.

What does it mean to sell flexibility?

You can sell flexibility by lowering your consumption or increasing production during congested hours. This is called activation. You can also, in advance, sell your ability to do the same if a need should arise. This is called reservation.

Why should my company offer flexibility?

By selling flexibility, you can earn money while at the same time contributing to the green shift by helping to relieve a congested power grid.

What is needed to participate?

It shouldn’t be difficult to participate. You need a controllable load of at least 1 kW. You can group one or more loads within a zone into a portfolio. Upon activation, it is the combined portfolio that needs to deliver what is sold. It is up to you to decide which assets/loads you use to deliver the volume that you have sold.

Where and how is the flex trading done?

The buying and selling of flexibility happens in NODES’ Trading Platorm. Here, both activation and reservation contracts are traded.

Activation contracts (Shortflex) are traded continuously, where either the buyer or the seller puts in orders. If two orders are matched, it becomes a trade. It is then expected that the seller activates according to his sell order. To ensure that the seller delivers what he has sold, NODES compares meter data against a baseline (prognosis). The payment is reduced if delivery is less than what was sold.

Reservation contracts (Longflex) are offered by the grid company well in advance of the delivery period. Sellers can respond to these tenders and also make counteroffers and/or add restrictions. The buyer decides if he can accept the proposition. Delivery of a Longflex contract is done by putting out sell orders is the Shortflex market. The buyer can buy (activate) them if he needs to.