AleaSoft Energy Forecasting, September 8, 2026. The Active Demand Response Service (SRAD) activations recorded in Spain this summer have once again highlighted the importance of flexibility in an electricity system with ever-increasing renewable penetration. For large consumers, mechanisms such as SRAD also represent an opportunity to turn their capacity to adapt consumption into an additional source of revenue.
SRAD, a balancing mechanism with growing prominence
SRAD is a balancing mechanism, managed by Red Eléctrica, that temporarily reduces the electricity demand of participating consumers when the system operator detects that available resources are insufficient to maintain the necessary level of upward reserve. It is a voluntary, remunerated service that has been in operation since 2022, open to providers with a minimum capacity of 1 MW, either individually or through aggregation.
For the second half of 2026, covering the period from July 1 to December 31, 1775 MW of capacity were awarded for the provision of SRAD, compared with 1725 MW in the first half. Each application can last up to two hours, and participants receive at least 12.5 minutes’ advance notice.
A summer with multiple SRAD activations
During July and August 2026, Red Eléctrica called on SRAD on several occasions. The published activations include those of July 15 and 22, concentrated at the end of the day, as well as further episodes during August. On August 20, for example, the service was activated again at around 18:00, with 832 MW of capacity requested.
The specific circumstances have not been identical in every episode. In the July 15 activation, Red Eléctrica pointed to an unforeseen drop in wind energy production as one of the factors behind the need to increase system reserves. In August, factors such as high temperatures, elevated demand and renewable production below expectations at certain times coincided again.
These activations do not mean that the electricity supply was at risk. SRAD is precisely one of the resources available to the operator to manage specific situations and preserve the reserve margins needed for the system to operate safely.
The paradox of summer: peak photovoltaic production and peak strain as the sun sets
This summer’s activations illustrate one of the main transformations that the growth of photovoltaic energy is driving in the electricity system. Spain has large volumes of solar generation during the central hours of the day. In July, photovoltaics was the technology with the highest electricity production in the country, and renewable energies reached a new monthly generation record, with 14 699 GWh. At the same time, July’s electricity demand was the highest for that month in many years, driven, among other factors, by high temperatures and the use of air conditioning systems.
This is where an apparent paradox arises. The moment of peak photovoltaic production does not necessarily coincide with the moment when the system most needs dispatchable capacity.
During the central hours of the day, abundant solar generation covers a significant share of demand and tends to reduce electricity market prices. But as the afternoon progresses, photovoltaic production falls rapidly while consumption can remain high, especially during periods of heat. Within a few hours, the system must replace a considerable amount of solar generation with other technologies, storage, imports or demand reduction.
This evening ramp is one of the main examples of why a system with more renewables also needs more flexible resources. Having plenty of energy available over the course of the day is not enough; generation, storage and demand must be able to respond at the precise moment needed.
SRAD turns industrial flexibility into a source of revenue
For electro-intensive industries and other large consumers, flexibility carries increasing economic value. Traditionally, industrial energy management has focused mainly on reducing the purchase price of electricity. In the new scenario, it is also relevant to analyse when to consume and how much value the capacity to temporarily change that consumption can generate.
SRAD is a direct example. Consumers participating in the service receive payment for making their demand-reduction capacity available to the system and, when an activation takes place, for the energy they actually stop consuming.
This allows certain industries to turn a feature of their production processes, their ability to shift or temporarily reduce loads, into a new source of revenue. The potential depends on each facility, its processes, the flexibility of its loads, the cost associated with modifying production, and its ability to respond quickly and reliably.
Participation through aggregators also widens the possibilities for consumers whose flexible loads, considered individually, would not reach the necessary thresholds. As a result, flexibility is progressively ceasing to be solely a defensive tool for reducing costs and is becoming an energy asset that can be optimised and monetised.
Storage extends the possibilities of flexibility
Battery storage can take this capacity a step further. A facility equipped with storage can partially decouple its grid consumption from its instantaneous electricity needs. It can charge the battery during hours of high renewable production and lower prices, and use that energy later, when solar generation falls or prices rise.
This capability can reduce exposure to the hours with the highest prices, smooth demand peaks and facilitate participation in flexibility mechanisms such as SRAD, without all of the requested reduction having to be passed directly to the production process.
Renewable growth is widening price differentials between solar hours and the afternoon and evening hours. This scenario increases the economic appeal of batteries, both for arbitrage and for providing flexibility and complementing self-consumption and energy procurement strategies.
Flexibility, an increasingly decisive asset
The SRAD activations recorded this summer are a concrete example of a trend that will keep intensifying as renewable penetration grows in the electricity system. The ability to anticipate when it will be necessary to reduce demand, activate storage or change the consumption pattern will increasingly determine the profitability of electro-intensive industries and large consumers. Those that incorporate flexibility and storage into their energy strategy will be better positioned for the transformation of the electricity system.
Forecasting and strategy to turn flexibility into value: the role of AleaStorage
For industries and large consumers, capturing these opportunities requires jointly analysing price forecasts, demand profile, supply contracts, PPAs, self-consumption, storage and participation in flexibility mechanisms.
In this context, AleaStorage, the AleaSoft Energy Forecasting division specialising in energy storage, provides forecasts and studies to evaluate stand-alone battery projects and projects hybridised with renewables, define electricity purchasing strategies for the short, medium and long term, and quantify the economic impact of participating in flexibility mechanisms such as SRAD, helping industries and large consumers reduce costs, manage risks and capture the new sources of value offered by the transformation of the electricity system.
Source: AleaSoft Energy Forecasting