Brattle Releases New Report on Clean Flexibility Benefits in Europe
Prepared for Beyond Fossil Fuels (BFF)
As Europe accelerates its transition from fossil fuels to cost-competitive renewable energy, clean flexibility is becoming a strategic priority. Realizing the full value of the energy transition requires not only the continued expansion of renewables but also the integration of clean flexibility for a reliable, resilient, and efficient energy system.
In a report coauthored with Acousmatics and prepared for Beyond Fossil Fuels (BFF), Brattle experts detail which clean flexibility opportunities are most suitable in different European regions. The analysis takes an in-depth look at the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Türkiye.
Clean flexibility includes technologies such as batteries and pumped hydro storage, as well as emerging solutions like smart EV charging, demand response, long-duration energy storage, interconnectors, and digital grid management tools. These solutions operate across generation, transmission, and distribution levels to ensure the system remains stable and reliable. The report, Clean Flexibility: Opportunities in Europe, notes the following takeaways:
- Clean flexibility capacity in Europe is expected to grow from roughly 150 GW in 2030 to more than 700 GW by 2050. 700 GW is nearly four times the entire installed capacity of gas power plants in Europe today (186 GW).
- In 2024 alone, grid bottlenecks in seven EU countries led to an estimated €7.2 billion worth of curtailed renewable electricity. Looking ahead, without additional balancing technologies, between 50 and 131 TWh of renewable power could be curtailed annually by 2030, equivalent to the yearly electricity consumption of Portugal and Sweden combined.
- Clean flexibility is associated with substantial cost savings. In the UK alone, flexibility solutions reduced electricity bills by £300 million in 2024. Across Europe, demand-side flexibility could save up to €300 billion per year by 2030.
The full report – coauthored by Principal Ryan Hledik, Energy Associates Dr. Andrew W. Thompson and Kailin Graham, Senior Research Analyst Averlie Wang, and Paolo Coghe from Acousmatics – can be found on the BFF website and below.
The report’s findings will be shared at a BFF webinar on March 3, 2026, at 11 a.m. (CET). Register here.
