Demystifying Grid Flexibility: Integrating Market-Based Planning and Valuation for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)

While the need for grid flexibility is becoming more widely accepted, utilities often struggle with how to effectively integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) into planning and operations. This article attempts to demystify flexibility by presenting one way to close the planning operations divide. Drawing on experiences from Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, we demonstrate how flexibility markets provide real-world operational and behavioral data that enables better comparison between flexibility and traditional infrastructure investments. The article establishes a framework that helps utilities treat DER flexibility as one option within their existing investment toolkit.