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UTILITY WEEK | 9TH - 15TH JUNE 2017 | 13 Policy & Regulation Produced in association with: To read Demand Side Flexibility in UK Utilities – Transforming the Power System by 2030 in full, go to the downloads section of www.utilityweek.co.uk Market potential Our research first set out to establish the importance of DSF to businesses in the energy sector in particular, and to the UK in general. Our respondents were clear on the importance of DSF to their businesses, now and increasingly in the future. Asked to rate the importance today on a scale of 1 to 10, respondents scored it average of 6.7, rising 30 per cent to 8.7 by 2030. Breaking down the responses by group reveals some interesting variations. It is little surprise that aggregators rate the importance of DSF to their business the highest, at 9.9 both today and in 2030. Suppliers and traders rate the importance of flexibility the lowest, at 5.1 and 5.3 respectively today, rising to 7.7 for suppli- ers and, interestingly, to 9 for traders by 2030. This suggests that traders see sig- nificant potential for the development of a market for DSF, and opportunity for their businesses within that. Respondents were also asked to rate the importance of DSF for the UK as a means of tackling the energy trilemma of sustainability, affordability and secu- rity, today and in the future. Today, they responded, the importance of DSF is 6.4 out of a possible 10, rising to 9.1 by 2030 – ranking its importance for the UK as a whole above its importance for individual businesses. It is clear that our respond- ents believe DSF has a critical role to play in resolving the energy trilemma. Once again, aggregators were most enthusiastic about the importance of DSF, rating it 9.9 out of a possible 10. DNOs were not far behind with 9, the second highest response. Traders, who as a group were clear on the potential of DSF for their own businesses, were more muted about its importance for the country as a whole, coming in the lowest of all the groups of respondents, though showing the greatest increase from today to 2030. THE POTENTIAL OF DSF Its importance today Its importance in 2030 Its importance today Its importance in 2030 Overall DNO Aggregator Supplier Trader Flexibility provider Other Average rating out of 10 (10 = Extremely important) Average rating out of 10 (10 = Extremely important) Average rating out of 10 (10 = Extremely important) HOW IMPORTANT IS DSF TO YOUR BUSINESS, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE? HOW IMPORTANT IS DSF TO THE UK, NOW AND IN FUTURE, TO ADDRESSING THE TRILEMMA? HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE POTENTIAL OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS OF DSF? Overall DNO Aggregator Supplier Trader Flexibility provider Other 6.2 6.8 8.0 9.9 9.9 9.9 5.7 5.1 8.6 7.7 5.3 9.0 6.7 9.3 7.1 9.3 5.0 8.3 5.6 8.8 7.3 9.5 9.1 8.7 6.7 6.4 9.0 9.1 Keep customers' energy bills affordable Mitigate the need for investment in new generation capacity Mitigate the need for investment in new transmission and distribution capacity Assist in meeting the UK's carbon targets capacity Offer flexibility to replace that lost due to the growth in generation from inflexible, intermittent sources Maintain system balance capacity Reduce the peak demand for energy in the UK capacity 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.9 8.0 8.4