Review of commercial flexibility products and market platforms

The European Union is pushing its members states to implement regulations that incentivize distribution system operators to procure flexibility to enhance grid operation and planning. Since flexibility should be obtained using market-based solutions, when possible, flexibility market platforms become essential tools to harness consumer-side flexibility, supporting its procurement, trading, dispatch, and settlement. These reasons have led to the appearance of multiple flexibility market platforms with different structure and functionalities. This work provides a comprehensive description of the main flexibility platforms operating in Europe and provides a concise review of the platform main characteristics and functionalities, including their user segment, flexibility trading procedures, settlement processes, and flexibility products supported.