Speaking the Same Language: A Taxonomy for Flexible Demand

Flexible demand will play an increasingly important role in supporting Australia’s energy system, but inconsistent terminology is hindering policy development, market communication and consumer participation. Regulators, retailers, aggregators and service providers often use different terms for overlapping concepts, such as “demand flexibility”, “demand response”, “virtual power plants”, etc. This creates ambiguity about the services being offered, the outcomes they deliver and the value available to energy users.
This presentation outlines the development of a flexible demand taxonomy intended to provide a common ground of reference and enable industry to use common, consistent terminology when describing flexible demand.
An initial taxonomy identifies five forms of flexible demand: load shaping, dynamic load shifting, price-driven load management, emergency load management and balancing services. The presentation will examine whether these distinctions provide a useful common reference point for industry and policymakers, and whether a simpler set of customer-facing categories is needed to support effective communication and participation.