This report aims to enlighten decision-makers, communities, industries, and the general public in France about the challenges of flexibilities for the electrical system's needs and the levers to accelerate their development. It is based on documentary research, the expertise of Think Smartgrids and its members, as well as numerous interviews with key players in the sector. The report focuses on the horizon of 2035 and allows for a comparison with scenarios proposed by RTE in the 2023 Forecast Report.
The increasing integration of intermittent and decentralized renewable energies, resulting network investments, ambitious decarbonization goals, and electricity price volatility are challenges that flexibility can partially address. The report identifies three mature flexibility levers to prioritize: tariff lever, industrial curtailment, and diffuse curtailment in the tertiary sector.
In addition to these levers, the report underscores the crucial role of public authorities and regulators in creating favorable conditions for deploying flexibilities. Ambitious goals, targeted economic support, incentives for investment and innovation, and appropriate regulations are necessary to make flexibility economically viable and competitive in France and Europe. With time running short, the report calls for immediate industrial-scale actions to effectively integrate electrical flexibility into the overall management of the electrical system.
