Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether she plans to provide further support for the development of flexible electricity markets.

Government is supporting the development of flexibility markets through the delivery of the actions in the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan and continued innovation funding for flexibility market platforms.

The Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan set out a number of actions to ensure that markets fairly reward flexibility for the value it provides to the system. As part of this plan, network operators are taking action to develop local flexibility markets and the Electricity System Operators work to reform the balancing services markets is opening up access to a wider range of flexible technologies. We are now considering the next phase of this work and will work closely with Ofgem and industry to develop this throughout 2020. ​​

In 2019, we launched the “FleX” innovation competition, which will support the development and demonstration of innovative solutions to value and trade flexibility in the energy system. Details of winning projects will be formally announced in due course.