AleaSoft Energy Forecasting, October 2, 2026. The new activation of the Active Demand Response Service (SRAD) highlights the growing need for flexibility in the electricity system. For large consumers, batteries turn this need into an opportunity. They make it easier to participate in the SRAD, providing flexibility without directly affecting production processes, and at the same time they increase the use of self-consumption and reduce electricity purchases from the grid.
A new activation that confirms the need for flexibility
On September 28, Red Eléctrica once again called on the Active Demand Response Service. According to data published by the system operator on ESIOS, the activation began at 21:16, mobilised 943 MW, 53% of the capacity awarded for the half-year, and reached an energy of 1634.5 MWh. It took place at a time when wind energy production was lower than forecast.
This is not an isolated episode. Nine SRAD activations have already taken place this year. Including the one on September 28, Red Eléctrica’s register shows seven activations since July 15, spread over six days, plus the two on January 28. The nine activations this year reflect a reality that will gain weight as the energy transition progresses: in addition to having enough generation, the system needs resources capable of responding quickly when generation and demand deviate from forecasts. Flexibility thus acquires an economic value of its own, beyond its technical interest.
For the second half of 2026, Red Eléctrica awarded 1775 MW for the provision of the SRAD, at a marginal price of €42.62 per MW and hour of availability. The service is voluntary and remunerated, and it can be provided by suppliers with a minimum capacity of 1 MW, either individually or through aggregation. Each activation lasts a maximum of two hours, with a minimum notice of 12.5 minutes.
From reducing production to managing energy
Traditionally, a large consumer’s participation in a demand response mechanism has been associated with temporarily interrupting or reducing its production processes. This flexibility comes at a cost. Not all processes can be stopped easily, and a reduction in activity can affect the production, planning or efficiency of the facility.
Batteries make it possible to tackle the problem from another perspective. A behind-the-meter storage system can supply part of the energy the facility needs during an SRAD activation. In this way, electricity consumption from the grid falls without the need to reduce the activity of production processes in the same proportion.
The specific scope will depend on the configuration of each facility, its consumption profiles, the capacity and power of the battery, and the metering and participation conditions of the service. But the principle is clear: the flexibility the system needs can be obtained by managing when and from where energy is consumed, without necessarily having to modify industrial production.
The SRAD can help finance investment in batteries
This change of approach also alters the economics of energy storage for large consumers. The profitability of a behind-the-meter battery must be analysed taking into account all the sources of value it can provide, beyond the savings it generates by shifting consumption between hours.
The first is greater use of self-consumption. An industrial facility with photovoltaic generation can store the electricity it does not consume during solar hours and use it later, instead of buying it from the grid. These savings are complemented by peak demand management and the optimisation of electricity purchases according to market prices.
When the facility meets the conditions to participate, there are also revenues linked to flexibility, including those from the SRAD. Service providers are paid for the capacity they keep available and, in each activation, for the energy supplied, at the tertiary regulation price at that time. In the September 28 activation, the weighted average price was €196.91/MWh. Between January and August, the cost of the SRAD for the system amounted to €286 million, according to Red Eléctrica. This remuneration can help recover the investment made, and the battery also becomes an asset capable of generating revenue as well as savings.
One battery, several sources of value
The investment decision should not rely on a single source of revenue or savings. The challenge lies in sizing and operating the battery to combine self-consumption, peak management, optimised purchasing and flexibility services without some functions limiting others.
A battery designed exclusively to maximise self-consumption may not be the optimal solution for participating in flexibility services, for example, if its duration does not cover the two hours of an activation or if it is usually discharged in the late afternoon and at night, the time slot in which the activations recorded since July have been concentrated. Likewise, oversizing a battery with only future market revenues in mind can erode the profitability of the project.
Therefore, before investing, it is necessary to jointly analyse the hourly consumption and generation profiles, the expected evolution of electricity prices, the opportunities to participate in the different markets and services, battery degradation and the operational constraints of the facility.
Flexibility will become increasingly valuable
The growth of wind energy and photovoltaic energy is transforming the operation of the electricity system. Their production depends on weather conditions, and deviations from forecasts create additional balancing needs, as happened on September 28. At the same time, demand electrification will increase the role of consumers in the functioning of the system.
In this scenario, the ability to adapt demand is no longer a response to exceptional situations and can become one more strand of a large consumer’s energy management strategy. Batteries broaden this possibility because they decouple, at least in part, grid consumption from the operation of production processes.
Flexibility as a source of value for industry
The successive SRAD activations show in concrete terms the change in the operation of the electricity system. For a large consumer, the question is no longer only how much it can save by installing a battery. The question is how much value that battery can generate by combining savings, flexibility and revenue throughout its useful life. Companies that answer that question with reliable forecasts and a joint analysis of their consumption, their self-consumption and the markets will be in a better position to reduce their electricity costs and to make the most of their ability to adapt consumption.
Sizing and operating storage: the role of AleaStorage
Quantifying the value provided by energy storage requires hourly price forecasts for the entire useful life of the asset, spread and volatility scenarios, and an estimate of how often the system will need flexibility resources. AleaStorage, the AleaSoft Energy Forecasting division specialising in energy storage, helps large consumers analyse the optimal sizing and operation of their storage systems, taking into account their consumption and self-consumption profiles, the evolution of energy markets and the different sources of savings and revenue available, including participation in flexibility services such as the SRAD.
Source: AleaSoft Energy Forecasting