The Energy System of the Future is Smart and Flexible: Competing Danish Solutions to the Challenge of Fluctuating Electricity Generation

Over the past 20 years, the integration of large shares of wind power in the Danish electricity system has been successfully achieved. Yet, the political ambition of further radical increases of fluctuating renewables challenges the stabile operation of the system in the future. Currently, experts and policy makers are debating the possible organization of a system based on 100% renewables and the market design providing the best ‘fit’ for this system. Despite controversies, one thing seems clear: the energy system of the future is smart and flexible. But what smart and flexible means – and how it is achieved – remains controversial. In the paper, we describe two distinct proposals of electricity/energy systems turned smart and flexible, paying particular attention to the markets designed to assist the reorganization of the systems.