On Thursday the REA shall be launching the latest addition to the Energy Transition Readiness Index (ETRI), highlighting the importance of addressing the flexibility challenge as we increase the rollout of renewables.

ETRI is the REA’s annual assessment of the readiness of 14 European countries for the energy transition, from the perspective of investors, with a particular focus looking at the availability of flexibility services that support the deployment of renewable power and decarbonisation.

This year’s report follows a slightly different format to previous iterations, serving as a shorter summary of the past five years and examining critical upcoming challenges. This is ahead of a fuller study in 2025 as newly elected Governments have come into power across Europe. Last year’s ETRI 2023 report can be read here.

We shall be launching the report through a hybrid roundtable discussion, providing participants with the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions with industry leaders, civil servants and think tanks. We will explore the changes in trends over the past few years and share perspectives on the future challenges around flexibility, demand and communications systems required to deliver a decarbonised power system across Europe.

Please note this event had originally been planned as an in-person-only event. However, with the industrial action now taking part on the London Underground, we are now running it as a hybrid event.

Before the discussion, there will be presentations on this year’s report by its author Robert Hull (Riverswan Energy Advisory) and the report’s sponsor, the Joint Radio Company.

We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a highly engaging morning.

Agenda

• Introduction to the REA and ETRI – Mark Sommerfeld, Deputy Director of Policy, REA
• The Energy Transition Readiness Index Report – Robert Hull, Director, Riverswan Energy Advisory
• Importance of Smart Grid Communication Systems – Ross Melton, On behalf of the Joint Radio Company
• Roundtable Discussion on Key Themes:
  1. How do participants perceive how energy markets are changing across Europe, what patterns and differences do we see?
  2. What challenges are represented by increasing volumes of variable generation out to 2030? Does this maintain an attractive market for investors?
  3. What are the physical barriers to the delivery of flexibility?
  4. What are the strategies people would like to see for the delivery of more flexibility? What products do they need to see in flexibility markets?
  5. Can low carbon flexibility compete with fossil-fuel flexibility assets with sunk costs?
  6. What is driving demand and how does policy need to deal with these challenges?
  7. Gaps in delivering smart grid communication systems – how are developers and demand side providers interacting with these systems?
  8. Are we sufficiently addressing cybersecurity risks?
  9. What are the key policy decisions we need to see from Government in the next 12 months?

• Summary of the discussion and closing remarks

For any questions, please reach out. With any issues signing up, please contact [email protected]