Enabling a clean power system

This executive summary by Ember argues that the rapid deployment of clean flexibility—specifically battery storage, demand-side flexibility, and grids—is essential to integrate increasing volumes of wind and solar generation into the European power system and avoid renewable energy curtailment.

• Clean flexibility solutions, including battery storage, demand-side flexibility, and grids, are proven technologies for managing supply-demand mismatches on a minute and hourly basis. Failure to deploy these at speed will lead to increased renewable energy curtailment and electricity price cannibalisation as wind and solar capacity grows.
• The EU and its Member States need improved planning and strategic frameworks for clean flexibility. This includes incorporating flexibility plans into National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) due in June 2024, delivering national strategies before 2026, and promoting blended assets such as co-locating solar with batteries.
• To reduce the waste of renewable power, the EU should implement curtailment caps for countries where renewable generation exceeds 50%. Additionally, countries should establish local constraint markets at the distribution level and provide accelerated grid connection access for batteries or co-located renewables.
• Existing power system frameworks, designed for centralised fossil-fuel generators, often hinder smaller, distributed flexibility sources. Recommendations include creating legal frameworks for distributed sources to enter energy markets, lowering carbon caps in capacity mechanisms, and ensuring system modelling (such as ERAA and TYNDP) adequately represents clean flexibility.
• Increasing consumer participation requires incentives such as time-of-use tariffs and the standardisation of 'smart' infrastructure for EV charging and heat management. There is a specific need to ensure low-income households are not adversely affected or left behind due to limited access to flexibility technologies.

APA

Petrovich, B., & Fox, H. (2024). Enabling a clean power system. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/04/Enabling-a-clean-power-system_-policy-recommendations.pdf

Chicago

Petrovich, Beatrice, and Harriet Fox. Enabling a clean power system. Ember, 2024. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/04/Enabling-a-clean-power-system_-policy-recommendations.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Petrovich |first1=Beatrice |last2=Fox |first2=Harriet |title=Enabling a clean power system |publisher=Ember |date=30 April 2024 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/04/Enabling-a-clean-power-system_-policy-recommendations.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{petrovich2024enabling, author = {Petrovich, Beatrice and Fox, Harriet}, title = {{Enabling a clean power system}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2024}, month = apr, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/04/Enabling-a-clean-power-system_-policy-recommendations.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }