As Europe and Turkiye strive for cleaner energy systems, guiding consumers to use electricity at the right time has emerged as a key strategy. Aligning electricity demand with periods of abundant renewable generation or low overall usage – often called demand response or demand-side flexibility – can unlock multiple benefits. By timing their consumption flexibly, industrial and ordinary consumers alike can tap into cheaper, cleaner power while helping the grid run more efficiently.
This article, in line with the goals of the CO₂Free project, argues that incentivizing timely energy use is crucial to accelerating decarbonization. Drawing on formal studies and data from Europe and Turkiye (with benchmarks from the US and China), it shows that shifting electricity use in time enables cheaper and cleaner energy, allows greater renewable energy integration, and helps grid operators maintain stability without relying on polluting backup plants. It also examines the limits of current demand-response tools for everyday consumers, the value of flexible home and business loads, and the role of system operators in supporting this shift.
Benefits of Timely, Flexible Consumption
Cheaper and Cleaner Energy Use
When consumers shift usage to off-peak times or moments of high renewable output, they can access lower-cost electricity and cleaner generation. Flexible demand flattens the peak load curve, reducing the need for expensive peaking power plants and lowering wholesale prices for everyone. EU regulators note that greater demand response helps reduce price spikes and volatility, directly translating into more affordable bills.
In practical terms, households that run appliances overnight or during sunny mid-days can save money while drawing power from cleaner sources. The International Energy Agency confirms that demand response is a key tool for managing variability in wind and solar, reducing the need for costly grid reinforcements and fossil backup generation. In short, flexible timing delivers electricity that is both cheaper and lower in carbon.
Integrating More Renewable Energy
As variable renewables grow, periods of surplus generation become more common. Without flexible demand, grid operators must curtail renewable output, wasting clean energy. Timely consumption prevents this by shifting usage into periods of renewable abundance.
European analyses show that demand-side flexibility and storage are essential to avoid curtailment. In Turkiye, studies suggest that demand response could reduce peak demand by up to 10 GW by 2030, creating space for additional wind and solar capacity. Flexible demand therefore acts as a renewable enabler, helping power systems absorb higher shares of clean energy without compromising reliability.
Maintaining Grid Stability without Thermal Backup
Traditionally, grids have relied on fossil-fueled plants to balance sudden changes in supply or demand. In renewable-heavy systems, demand flexibility becomes the new balancing tool. By reducing consumption during tight supply periods or increasing it during surplus, flexible demand can replace gas or coal peakers.
European and Turkish grid studies highlight that demand response and storage are the clean peakers of the future, helping maintain stability, reduce emissions, and avoid unnecessary infrastructure investments. Timely consumption provides system operators with a flexible buffer that enhances resilience while minimizing reliance on polluting standby generation.
Demand Response in Europe and Turkiye: Status and Tools
Europe and Turkiye recognize the importance of demand-side flexibility, but tools for ordinary consumers lag behind those for industry.
Europe
More than 70% of EU households still lack dynamic electricity tariffs that reward flexible consumption. Smart meter deployment, a key enabler of real-time demand response, has been slow and uneven across Member States. Market access has also historically favored large industrial users.
Recent reforms aim to change this. New EU rules and the proposed Network Code on Demand Response are designed to facilitate aggregation, lower entry barriers, and allow small consumer resources to participate in energy and balancing markets. Despite progress, analysts estimate that around half of the flexibility needed by 2030 remains untapped.
Turkiye
Turkiye’s renewable share has grown rapidly, with wind and solar now contributing nearly one-fifth of electricity generation. While large industrial users participate in demand response, residential and small commercial participation remains limited.
Time-of-use tariffs are in place, but advanced metering, real-time pricing, and automated response programs are still developing. Studies indicate that with sufficient policy support, technology deployment, and consumer awareness, Turkiye could reach 50% renewable power by 2030 without sacrificing grid reliability, using demand response as a key pillar.
The Value of Flexible Loads at the Consumer Level
Demand response is not only about industry. Households and small businesses collectively represent enormous flexibility potential. Studies suggest that more than half of future demand-side flexibility in Europe could come from buildings and homes.
Key flexible loads include heating and cooling systems, electric water heaters, electric vehicles, home batteries, and smart appliances. These devices can shift operation by hours with minimal impact on comfort, especially when automated. Aggregated across millions of users, they can deliver flexibility comparable to large power plants.
Engaging consumer-level flexibility reduces renewable curtailment, avoids fossil backup, and can lower total grid costs by 10–15% in the long run. Automation ensures that participation is largely invisible to consumers, preserving comfort while delivering savings and environmental benefits.
The Role of System Operators and Policy Support
System operators and regulators play a central role in enabling timely consumption. Market rules must allow demand-side resources to compete on equal footing with generation, and infrastructure investments must support real-time interaction with loads.
In Europe, TSOs and DSOs are integrating demand response into planning and operations, supported by new regulatory frameworks that standardize participation and aggregation. In Turkiye, the grid operator and regulator are developing mechanisms to incorporate demand-side bids into balancing and capacity markets.
Policymakers must also support dynamic pricing, remove regulatory barriers, and communicate the value of flexibility. Building trust in demand response as a reliable resource is essential for reducing dependence on fossil-fueled backup plants.
Global Benchmarks: The US and China
United States
The US has decades of experience with demand response, supported by widespread smart meter deployment and market access for aggregated resources. Regulatory reforms such as FERC Order 2222 mandate that distributed energy resources, including demand response, be allowed into wholesale markets.
Residential demand flexibility programs have demonstrated significant peak reductions and cost savings, helping manage challenges such as the solar “duck curve.”
China
China’s rapid growth in electricity demand and renewables has driven strong interest in demand-side flexibility. Studies estimate that industrial demand response alone could reduce peak load by 3–10% and avoid up to 130 GW of new coal capacity.
Pilot programs, automation, time-of-use pricing, and market reforms are positioning demand response as a key tool in balancing the world’s largest power system.
Conclusion
The energy transition is not only about building clean generation – it is also about using electricity at the right time. Timely and flexible consumption enables cheaper energy, higher renewable integration, and a more stable grid with fewer emissions.
Empowering consumers through dynamic pricing, automation, and supportive regulation turns demand-side flexibility into a core system resource. Evidence from Europe, Turkiye, the US, and China shows that this strategy is practical, scalable, and economically sound.
Electricity is cheapest and greenest when consumed at the right time. Aligning demand with renewable supply is a fundamental step toward a resilient, affordable, and CO₂-free energy future.
References
-
ACER – Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators Unlocking flexibility: No-regret actions to remove barriers to demand response (Market Monitoring Report 2025 – highlights on demand response, pricing, smart meters) https://www.acer.europa.eu/monitoring/market-monitoring-report
-
ENTSO-E & EU DSO Entity Joint Proposal for an EU Network Code on Demand Response (8 May 2024) https://www.entsoe.eu/news/2024/05/08/entso-e-and-eu-dso-entity-propose-network-code-on-demand-response/
-
International Energy Agency (IEA) Demand Response – Energy Efficiency and Demand https://www.iea.org/energy-system/energy-efficiency-and-demand/demand-response
-
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Demand-side Flexibility for Power Sector Transformation (2019) https://www.irena.org/Publications/2019/Nov/Demand-side-flexibility-for-power-sector-transformation
-
Ember Climate Making Clean Power Flexy (via REGlobal / Ember analysis on clean flexibility) https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/making-clean-power-flexy/
-
SHURA Energy Transition Center & Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) Unlocking Demand-Side Response in Türkiye: A White Paper (2021) https://shura.org.tr/en/unlocking-demand-side-response-in-turkiye/
-
Agora Energiewende & SHURA Socioeconomic Impact of the Power System Transition in Türkiye (2021) https://www.agora-energiewende.de/en/publications/socioeconomic-impact-of-the-power-system-transition-in-turkey/
-
European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) Use Heat Pumps’ Flexibility – Flexibility, Grids and Energy System Integration (2020) https://www.ehpa.org/publications/use-heat-pumps-flexibility/
-
U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Assessment of Demand Response and Advanced Metering (2021) https://www.ferc.gov/assessment-demand-response-and-advanced-metering
-
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) The Economics of Demand Flexibility (2015) https://rmi.org/insight/the-economics-of-demand-flexibility/
-
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Confronting the Duck Curve: How to Address Over-Generation of Solar Energy (2017) https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/confronting-duck-curve
-
Rocky Mountain Institute (China Program) & State Grid Research Unlocking Demand-Side Flexibility in China (2023) https://rmi.org/insight/unlocking-demand-side-flexibility-in-china/
-
International Energy Agency (IEA) Meeting Power System Flexibility Needs in China by 2030 (2023) https://www.iea.org/reports/meeting-power-system-flexibility-needs-in-china-by-2030