The electricity grid of the future will not rely solely on more renewable energy. It will also need to be supported by businesses capable of adapting their consumption to the system’s needs. This is the main conclusion of the FlexBeAn research project, launched in 2022 by Creos, the University of Luxembourg’s SnT and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (List).

The findings, published on Thursday 16 July, show that Luxembourg’s industrial firms have an economic incentive to gradually electrify some of their processes whilst making their flexibility available to the electricity grid. According to the researchers, this combination could reduce their energy costs by up to 6 per cent.

Conversely, companies that merely shifted their consumption in line with electricity market prices, without participating in flexibility markets, would achieve savings of only around 0.3%. The study thus highlights that the bulk of the financial potential stems from participation in grid balancing markets.

Essential flexibility

To reach this conclusion, the researchers studied industrial sites that generate steam using gas-fired boilers. Rather than immediately replacing this equipment with electric boilers, they assessed a hybrid solution that would allow the two technologies to be used alternately depending on the price of electricity, whilst participating in balancing markets. This approach would reduce energy costs whilst spreading out the investment required for electrification.

The context has shifted in favour of this strategy. Since January 2025, eligible Luxembourg companies have been able to access the electricity balancing markets via Amprion. In particular, researchers identify the automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR) market as the one offering the greatest economic potential for the industry.

“Our research shows that participation in flexibility markets is just as important as the electrification of equipment. This conclusion transforms what might have been perceived as an economic risk into a genuine opportunity for Luxembourg’s industrial companies to strengthen their competitiveness and keep their operations in Luxembourg,” emphasises Gilbert Fridgen, holder of the PayPal-FNR Pearl Chair and principal investigator for the project at SnT. The authors believe that these findings could also be applied to other processes, notably heating and cooling systems. For Creos, this flexibility will be essential to the operation of the future electricity grid.