Hamburg, 13.2.2024 – The FlexIndex measures on a daily basis the revenues that operators of flexible assets can achieve in Germany’s short-term spot market. The index is based on a reference battery with a storage capacity of one megawatt-hour and a power of one megawatt. It assumes a complete charging and discharging cycle per day. The historical revenues of the reference battery based on real prices in the spot market subsequently determine the level of the FlexIndex since January 2018. Thus, it provides a reference for the historical as well as the current value of flexibility in the German electricity market.
To determine the daily index value, the virtual battery undergoes market-wide sequential optimization. Hamburg-based electricity trader and flexibility marketer CF FlexPower uses a simplified optimization model for this purpose, which is also used to determine the optimal schedules for real battery storage in its own portfolio. First, the optimizer considers the Day-Ahead auction in the spot market of the power exchange, then the software selects the best prices from the Intraday auction, and finally from the continuous Intraday trading.
Both the FlexIndex and the optimization model itself are freely accessible. The raw data of the index can also be accessed free of charge. The optimization model includes a document with the mathematical formulation of the optimization problem as well as a Python implementation of the model using the open-source Pyomo library.
Amani Joas, Managing Director at FlexPower, hopes that the publication of the FlexIndex will increase transparency in the market: "We are often asked how high the revenues for certain flexibility options actually are and want to contribute to being able to perform the necessary economic calculations faster and easier with the creation and publication of the FlexIndex. Especially the market segment of stationary battery storage systems is currently developing dynamically, but so far there has been a lack of reliable data to calculate projects. Now even electricity market novices can do this based on real price data."
FlexPower itself is active as a power trader in the spot market of the power exchange and markets renewable energies as well as battery storage systems in the German market.
Contact
For press enquiries please contact
Amani Joas | amani@flex-power.energy | +49 176 15655871
