On the second day of Utility Week Live at the NEC Birmingham, Steven Gough, Head of Flexibility at Elexon, delivered a presentation on the lessons learned from the first five months of the market facilitator role.
Speaking on the Energy Flexibility Stage, Steven explored the challenges and opportunities involved in coordinating flexibility markets, with a particular focus on improving alignment between DSO and NESO markets, increasing transparency and simplifying market access for flexibility providers.
A key theme throughout the session was the importance of coordination - both commercial and digital - in enabling #flexibility markets to scale effectively.
Steven highlighted how initiatives such as the Flexibility Market Asset Registration (FMAR) programme can help reduce duplication, improve interoperability and support a more streamlined “register once” approach for market participants.
Steven also reflected on several key lessons emerging from Elexon’s role as market facilitator to date:
➡️ Stakeholder engagement is critical to delivering meaningful #marketreform
➡️ Flexibility markets must be approached from a whole-system perspective
➡️ There is a vital balance between #governance, transparency and pace of delivery
➡️ Neutral coordination can help reduce fragmentation and drive long-term market #alignment
The session concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Charles Wood, Deputy Director of Policy at Energy UK, featuring Emma Burns, Market Design Manager at Octopus Energy, and Alex H., Head of Flexibility Markets at UK Power Networks DSO.
The discussion explored how the industry can work collaboratively to remove barriers to participation, improve market access and accelerate the growth of clean flexibility.
Steven Gough said: “Flexibility is fundamentally interconnected across the entire energy ecosystem. If we want to scale clean flexibility successfully, we need to align markets, simplify access and build the digital infrastructure that enables coordination across the system.”
Utility Week
#UtilityWeekLive #FlexibilityMarkets #EnergyTransition #NetZero #EnergyFlexibility #Digitalisation #UWL #Elexon
