Consumer Demand Flexibility in Electricity Use

The project CoDeF pursues the primary objective of training innovative and expert doctoral researchers with a combination of strong research skills and key transferable competencies to face the challenges presented by an emerging aspect of the clean energy transition, consumer energy flexibility.

The network integrates the variety of disciplines needed to study consumer energy flexibility and will train participants in research and transferable skills to progress and deliver state of the art research in their fields.Consumers and citizens will play an important role in the transition to net zero carbon energy through flexible energy use and matching demand to available renewable energy supply, thus reducing the need for fossil fuel generation and consumer energy bills.

Nonetheless, technical, economic, and societal challenges currently hinder consumer participation in energy markets.The scientific research focuses on three objectives related to the increased participation of consumers in the provision of demand flexibility:- Incentives and behaviour: how to incentivise consumer flexibility through behavioural change, demand response interventions, and markets.- Enabling frameworks: how to facilitate flexible consumer demand through enablers, such as control algorithms and smart grids, smart devices in the home, and institutional frameworks.- Impact assessment: evaluating the impact of consumer energy flexibility on emissions, the energy system and society.Each doctoral candidate will carry out specialised research related to one of the objectives, in cooperation with their supervisors and interlinked with other researchers and associated partners of the consortium.

Collectively, the doctoral network delivers multidisciplinary, integrated, innovative research outcomes for energy policy and society and a cohort of expert researchers equipped to realise the clean energy transition.