For energy communities in The Netherlands it is currently a challenge to start trading with the flexibility assets in their community, for example heat pumps or batteries.
Currently this flexibility trading is mostly done by bigger assets, as they comply to specific requirements regarding capacity and availability set by the TSO. In reality there are not a lot of these assets and they are not designed around sustainability. However, the demand for these kind of assets increases fast.
Bundling of these smaller residential assets (batteries, heat pumps) into one bigger asset is a way to enable flex-trading for energy communities and provides for the need to unlock the flex potential of small-scale residential flexibility. Bundling of these assets is also referred to as a âVirtual Power Plantâ.