RAP Presents at Energy Efficiency Briefing in Brussels: What is Energy Efficiency’s Role in “Beyond Capacity Markets” Thinking?
On September 4, RAP Principal Meg Gottstein briefed interested stakeholders on the role of energy efficiency in market reform proposals to address the reliability challenges associated with a growing share of variable renewables in the power mix. RAP’s “Beyond Capacity Markets” checklist for evaluating these proposals and “What Lies Beyond Capacity Markets” paper emphasize the need for both demand-side and supply-side reliability resources that are highly flexible. The presentation outlines these reliability challenges, RAP’s proposed market designs to address them, and highlights the key role of energy efficiency under the new supply paradigm. Ms. Gottstein emphasized that an efficient EU integrated market will need to be sized efficiently, in addition to being designed to trade efficiently. She also discussed the role of qualifying demand-side resources (including end-use efficiency) in competitive “capabilities markets” and indicated that they should be on equal footing with other reliability resources