European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity
Key findings
Notes that the flexibility needs of the EU electricity system will significantly increase in the current and coming decades, while the relative and absolute contribution of historical sources of flexibility will decrease. New solutions will thus have to be developed and upscaled to fulfil the flexibility needs in the 2030-2050 timeframe. The report points to three concrete, worsening symptoms of the current flexibility shortfall: a rising number of hours with negative electricity spot prices across several EU wholesale markets, increasing congestion-management costs, and growing costs of system balancing — and it explicitly situates its analysis against the backdrop of the 28 April 2025 Iberian blackout, which affected the whole of Spain and Portugal and is cited elsewhere (in commentary on this study) as a stark reminder of the fragility of under-flexible energy systems.
The study highlights the needs for flexibility to be used as an hourly, daily, weekly and monthly tool to balance the system, not simply for seasonal peak capacity needs.
Source : https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2025/769347/ECTI_STU(2025)769347_EN.pdf (2025)
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