The potential of demand response as a tool for decarbonization in the energy transition

Planning and managing energy production, transmission, and distribution face new challenges as renewable energy sources become more widely used. These sources enhance existing issues of grid operation due to their unpredictability and intermittency. As a result, sophisticated energy system control techniques and technologies that offer novel flexibility solutions to the inelastic demand side are necessary to ensure the power system's stability. This paper reviews the feasibility of demand response as a tool for effective grid management and a measure for properly sized renewable energy systems (RES) capacities, both of which could accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels. Research also focuses on tapping into the building stock's demand response capacity in an effort to decrease operational CO2 emissions. In this line of approach, current status and goals of the respective European policies are analyzed. The role of market based decarbonization is studied and presented along with the status of demand response market implementation in several countries.