Solar installations have been booming in Hungary and Poland in recent years and all Visegrad group countries are anticipating significant growth in variable renewable energy capacity by 2030, introducing the challenge and opportunity of surplus management. The challenge is overcoming the deeply-rooted Soviet-era energy systems designed to facilitate unidirectional flows of baseload coal and nuclear electricity, with the opportunity to seize lower energy prices, green the economy, and reduce energy dependency.
Massive grid investments in the form of cross-border projects, smart metering and smart grids, and energy storage will be required for the Visegrad countries to realize their energy transformation, but some of this classical infrastructure can be avoided or at least minimized with the development of competing and complimentary localized flexibility solutions.
Distribution level investments combined with time of use tariffs (ToU) will incentivize prosumers and battery operators to shift loads and provide grid cost-effective grid services. However, for demand response to function efficiently, transparent and dynamic price signals are needed – departure from the current regulated end-consumer price regimes.
The following recommendations are shared for each Visegrad group country and elaborate further in the final section:
- A comprehensive government-led national strategy grid operators, research institutes, manufacturers, system users and policy makers to develop a roadmap for grid development;
- Introducing the proper market design and regulatory framework for energy storage and dynamic pricing to unlock demand-response
- Evaluating potential for cost-effective local distribution-level flexibility solutions first, beginning with thermal heating and electric vehicle integration
- Provision of standardized national data for further research and analysis
- Joint regional dialogue and cooperation on flexibility measures as part of the next national strategic update