Local Energy flexibility: RomeFlex, Edge and MindFlex with Enel

Three programs active across Italy to transform business consumption into a resource for the grid. With Enel as aggregator, every phase is managed in a structured way.

The Energy transition also depends on the ability to manage the Energy produced. In a grid where Renewable energies are variable by nature and consumption grows with the Electrification of transport and industrial processes, local Energy flexibility allows companies and public and private facilities to adapt loads to the needs of the system.

This is where local Energy flexibility comes into play: the ability to modulate one’s electrical loads in response to the needs of the grid, participating in local demand response programs. A concrete response that contributes to the stability of the electrical system and generates a direct economic advantage for those who participate.

Enel supports its customers in this path through three pilot projects currently active across Italy: RomeFlex, Edge and MindFlex.

RomeFlex: Rome’s grid becomes more flexible

RomeFlex is the local demand response program promoted by Areti, the distributor that manages Rome’s electricity grid. Companies and distributed resources that join the program make themselves available to modulate their electrical loads or their injections, in the case of plants, according to the needs of the grid, modifying their consumption or their injections at times of greater pressure, possibly shifting some activities to more favourable time slots.

Remuneration is structured on two components: a fixed fee for the declared availability and a variable fee linked to the interventions actually delivered. The program is open to electricity customers active on Areti’s distribution grid in Rome who are able to modulate their consumption or Energy production: businesses, healthcare facilities, public and private entities with modulatable electrical loads.

Edge and MindFlex: local flexibility beyond Rome

The same logic extends to other areas of the national territory through two distinct programs.

Edge is the local flexibility program promoted by E-Distribuzione, Italy’s main electricity distributor. It is aimed at electricity customers who want to enhance the value of their modulation capacity by acting both on consumption and on injections into the grid through production plants. In this case too, the program provides both fixed remuneration for availability to participate and variable remuneration for actual activations.

MindFlex, on the other hand, is the program active on the Unareti grid, which covers Milan and several other municipalities and provinces in Lombardy. It shares the same regulatory framework as RomeFlex and is aimed at all customers of the local distribution grid, regardless of their category of use, whether industrial, tertiary or residential.

Three programs, three distributors, one common direction: developing a smart grid in which end users are not passive consumers, but active resources for the stability of the local electrical system.

The role of Enel: from aggregation to results

Participating in a local flexibility program requires technical expertise, knowledge of market mechanisms and continuous operational management.

Enel acts as a qualified aggregator, building heterogeneous portfolios of end customers and supporting each one throughout the entire path. In concrete terms, the support is structured as follows:

continuous monitoring of the flexibility market and regulatory developments;
optimal 360° management of the auction process, from offer preparation to reporting;
operational assistance during all phases of participation;
strategy optimization to maximize remuneration.

Thanks to the experience gained in the sector and the size of the portfolio managed, Enel is able to enhance the value of each customer’s flexibility in a targeted way, identifying market opportunities that are difficult to access independently and combining market knowledge, technical oversight and aggregation capacity.

Discover Enel’s local flexibility programs

Frequently asked questions

The main active programs are RomeFlex on the grid of the municipalities of Rome and Formello, Edge promoted by E-Distribuzione on a national scale and MindFlex promoted by Unareti on the grid of Milan, Rozzano, Cremona and in the province of Brescia. Enel participates as aggregator in all three programs.

RomeFlex is open to all industrial, tertiary and residential electricity customers active on the distribution grid managed by Areti, such as businesses, healthcare facilities, public and private entities. The essential requirement is to have modulatable electrical loads, without compromising operational continuity.

Yes. Public entities, hospitals, schools and public administration facilities can participate in local flexibility programs, provided they have modulatable loads or production plants compatible with the specific technical requirements of the program.

The path starts with a technical assessment of the resource. Enel verifies compatibility with the most suitable program and supports the customer through all operational phases.

By modulating consumption or injections according to the needs of the grid, flexibility facilitates the integration of renewables and contributes to the stability of the electrical system, two pillars of the Energy transition.

A flexible electricity grid integrates the ability to modulate loads or injections in real time, dynamically balancing demand and supply. Local demand response programs allow end users to become active resources: by reducing or shifting consumption/injections at times of greater pressure, they contribute to stabilizing the grid and accelerating the integration of Renewable energies.

At territorial level, the main tools available are local demand response programs promoted by grid distributors: RomeFlex for Rome, MindFlex for Milan, and Edge on a national scale with E-Distribuzione. Each program provides remuneration for customers who make their electrical resources available, with Enel as a qualified aggregator.

Any electricity customer or distributed resource able to modulate its consumption or injections in a predictable and secure way, including manufacturing companies, commercial and healthcare facilities and public entities. Participation takes place through a qualified aggregator such as Enel.