Aggregators in the Clean Energy Package: Opportunities and Difficulties

Aggregators in the CEP: Opportunities and Difficulties as Enablers for Decentralised Actors

In this podcast, Dr. Maximilian Wimmer, senior researcher at the Foundation for Environmental Energy law (Stiftung Umweltenergierecht), analyses aggregators’ opportunities and difficulties as enablers for decentralised actors in the future energy market with a view on the relevant legal framework found in the “Clean Energy for All Europeans Package”.

In the near future, aggregators are likely to play an important role as enablers for decentralised market actors like consumers, prosumers, active customers and energy communities. With the help of aggregation, it will be possible to reduce prices on control reserves and wholesale markets by combining several different units and optimising their demand and supply behaviours. For consumers and prosumers participating in aggregation services, it will have the potential to lower balancing costs and decrease the energy bill. Further, the aggregator can take the role of the intermediary between decentralised actors and the market and can help small actors like renewable self-consumers, active customers, or small businesses to participate in the electricity market.

Although there are many opportunities for aggregation business models, there are also various barriers. While several aggregation models already exist, the main problems lie with market access, local settlement and the access to or exchange of data. From a legal point of view, the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package provides various legislative acts that concern aggregators or aggregation and will oblige the Member States to take action in these areas. In particular, the Internal Electricity Regulation and Directive as well as the Renewable Energy Directive have to be examined. In this context, the three year Horizon2020 project “BestRES”, with a collaboration of nine partner countries, analysed the current and future situation for aggregators. It identified relevant barriers and possible solutions for a legal framework on European and national level.

For further information please visit BestRES.