Ireland needs more flexible energy demand. But do organisations understand their demand well enough to provide it? 

Ireland has published its first national Flexibility Needs Assessment.

The CRU assessment looks at what Ireland will need by 2028 and 2030 as renewable generation and electrification increase. One conclusion is clear. The electricity system will need greater flexibility in when energy is generated, consumed and stored.

For organisations, that creates a more fundamental question.

Do you understand your energy demand well enough to know what can actually change?

Annual consumption cannot answer that.

You need to understand when demand occurs. What creates it. Which loads are operationally necessary. What can move. What that change would cost or save. Whether the expected result was actually achieved.

That requires more than monitoring.

It requires the same discipline organisations already apply to financial performance. Measure what is happening. Understand the drivers. Forecast different scenarios. Make informed decisions. Then reconcile actual performance against what was expected.

That is Energy Accounting.

Flexibility may become increasingly valuable to Ireland’s electricity system. But before an organisation can offer flexible demand, it needs to properly account for the demand it already has.