Solutions for transition: Fair and flexible energy system (Flaire)

Flaire will increase the understanding of demand side management (DSM) solutions and their potential to decarbonize the Finnish energy system to ensure a secure and affordable energy supply for all. We will focus on DSM solutions at the customer side, such as reducing overall energy consumption and shifting consumption in response to network congestion or high electricity prices. Flaire will evaluate the feasibility and fairness of DSM and aim to increase consumer awareness and trust, especially in automated SHEMS. Special attention will be given to empowering less active social groups and to provide solutions also for the less energy literate households. Flaire will use modelling to estimate the economic value of flexibility services to the energy system and assess the system-wide impacts of DSM. A focal point of the research is real-life experimentation with diverse DMS solutions, covering both automated and information-based DSM solutions as well as municipal virtual power plants.

The project’s work packages and responsible partners:

1. Techno-economic solutions for demand side management (University of Oulu)
2. Conditions for increasing household resilience in the energy transition (University of Helsinki)
3. Climate Assemblies on just energy transition (University of Turku)
4. Real-world experimentation (Finnish Environment Institute)
5. Modelling the system level impacts of DSM solutions (Aalto University)
6. Co-creating just and flexible energy transition pathway (Finnish Environment Institute)