Enabling demand response by extending the European electricity markets with a real-time market

The EcoGrid concept proposes to extend the current wholesale electricity market to allow participation of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and domestic end-consumers in system balancing. Taking advantage of the smart grid technology, the EcoGrid market publishes the real-time prices that entail an appropriate response of DERs and flexible customers to cope with the production deviation of renewable generating units. In the EcoGrid model the relation between the retailer and the customer stays entirely in the liberalized market, opening opportunities for new retail-level products and contracts supporting desired trade-offs of risk and benefit levels. The concept increases the market value of wind power, which in the long run is expected to provide the economic incentives to a higher wind power penetration. Hence, for a Europe-wide uptake of demand response, a good accordance between the EcoGrid concept and the new ENTSO-E Network Code on Electricity Balancing will be vitally important.