CrowdFlex finds consumers can be incentivised to manage energy flexibility

The CrowdFlex trials, a widescale project exploring the potential for domestic flexibility, has found that householders and EV owners can have a significant impact on flexibility, if they are appropriately incentivised. The project has also resulted in new forecasting models.

The two-year project sought to identify technology capability; to learn about consumer behaviour, and to align the requirements of NESO the National Energy System Operator and Distribution System Operators

Through large-scale randomised control consumer trials, CrowdFlex has collected data and developed demand and consumer flexibility prediction models, which offer the potential for real-time data-driven decision making for grid operations, the project managers said.

In the utilisation trials, 107,000 OVO customers were encouraged to flex their electricity usage in turn-up and turn-down events, shifting their energy usage into or out of event time windows. In addition, 33,000 customers from across two project partners, Ohme EV and OVO, took part in availability trials, where customers were encouraged to make their EV available for automated control of when to charge, where their flexibility service provider managed how they charged or discharged on behalf of the customer.

CrowdFlex said the trials had revealed a number of findings:

• In both availability and utilisation trials, the turn-up events generated a stronger response compared to turn-down events.
• 64% of survey respondents in the availability trials plugged their EV in more during the trial than they did before.
• The latest surveys suggest that manual flexibility remains the norm, with 80% of utilisation trial participants saying that they used manual shifting. However, automation helped utilisation trial participants shift on average 30% more electricity – suggesting that automation presents an opportunity to support and enhance participation.
• The strongest motivation for CrowdFlex participation amongst utilisation survey respondents continues to be the opportunity to save money (69%), then contributing to a greener grid (46%) and being interested in the challenge (46%).
• Customers were price-sensitive, delivering more response when presented with more generous rewards in the utilisation trials. There was a trade-off between maximising response volume and minimising cost per kWh of flexibility response, with lower incentives being more cost-effective per kWh of flex.
• In the availability trials, escalating payments were generally more effective and cost-efficient than flat payments (in terms of £ spent per kWh flexibility delivered).

CrowdFlex was awarded funding through Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund, which is managed in partnership with Innovate UK. The project is being delivered by a consortium of partners: Ohme, OVO, Centre for Net Zero, ERM, AWS, National Grid Electricity Distribution and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

Sanna Atherton, CrowdFlex Project Lead, NESO said:

As we’re near the completion of CrowdFlex, it’s exciting to be sharing the incredibly valuable learnings and insights we have gathered and to see the contribution CrowdFlex is making to the future of flexibility. The pioneering consumer flexibility prediction models have the potential to offer real value to grid operators, helping them operate a cleaner grid, while helping consumers save money on their bills at the same time.”

Marzia Zafar, Deputy Director of Governance for Data and Digitalisation, Ofgem said:

Crowdflex is more than a trial, it’s a blueprint for the future of domestic flexibility. By developing real life data driven models that demonstrate how households can reliably support the grid, were laying the foundation for a smarter, more decentralised energy system. This work is critical to delivering the ambitions of Clean Power by 2030 and ensuring that consumers are at the heart of the energy transition.”

Ohme said that it had rewarded its EV drivers more than £750,000 in incentives during the course of the CrowdFlex trials, with customers encouraged  to plug in their EVs whenever they were parked at home to earn rewards. Plugging-in more frequently and for longer, gave Ohme more time to intelligently manage customer charging, the firm said.

During the trials, Ohme saw plug-in rates rise by 40% compared with a control group – showing that effective engagement can change driver habits, it said.

The firm said that this optimisation enables better provision for important grid services, like helping the electricity system to meet peak demand, or making the most of renewable energy when it is available. In turn, it unlocks greater value for all customers by reducing costs and also lowering carbon emissions.

David Watson, Ohme CEO said:

The Crowdflex trials have shown that companies like Ohme can play a crucial role in domestic flexibility by engaging customers and helping to save consumers more than £470 million per year in energy costs by 2036. We’ve demonstrated that our customers will shift their plug-in behaviour when needed, delivering significant flexible capacity through dynamic automated charging. But to move this knowledge on from trial to reality, we need more coordination across the Government and energy industry to give greater value and more rewards to our customers for the full system value that their home EV chargers can offer.”

The company claimed that at its peak, 20,000 customers were engaged in the trial, making it he biggest such EV charging trial and flexing almost 150MW of electricity.

Customer surveys were also an important element of the CrowdFlex project, with over 37,000 customers responding to surveys over the duration of the beta phase, providing valuable insights on customers’ experiences taking part in CrowdFlex trials.

Elizabeth Allkins, Director of Future Energy, OVO said:

OVO customers are proving that consumer flexibility isn’t just possible, it’s popular, to help save costs and cut carbon. We’re proud to be part of a trial of this kind where insights are already being used by network operators and policy makers to inform market design for a net zero electricity network.”