As we evolve our energy system to be cleaner it needs to be fit enough to survive the day-to-day demands we place on it.

It can’t fall over when a storm blows in off the Atlantic. It’s got to keep running when thousands of electric cars are plugged in for charging. As we add more renewable generation and rely increasingly on electrification, the energy system is getting stretched so it needs to be flexible, responding faster and more intelligently than ever before. The edge it needs is a performance boost: digital tools that make it better placed to keep pace.

For this latest instalment of our Innovating to Net Zero 2026 Insights Series we spoke to experts and pored through the research to uncover how digitalisation is already supporting energy system flexibility and what innovations are needed to unlock its full potential.

How is digitalisation supporting flexibility?

If we look around us today, we can see that the flexibility we need is already being boosted by digital innovations in:

• Real time visibility and control: tools like machine learning are enabling real-time monitoring, forecasting and controlling of ‘flexible assets’ like batteries and rooftop solar panels. These tools are improving grid stability, enabling faster responses to disruptions and balancing peaks and lulls in power demand. Innovators such as Flexitricity are using AI to dispatch flexible assets to help stabilise the grid.
• Smarter forecasting and decision making: AI-based models are helping us better predict weather patterns, energy demand and energy generation allowing operators and assets to respond earlier and more effectively. This reduces the need for last minute balancing actions like starting up a gas-fired power plant which slows our pace in the race to Net Zero. Innovators including Open Climate Fix are using AI-driven solar forecasting tools to provide improved visibility of solar generation.
• Coordination across distributed assets: Digitalisation is helping thousands of small-scale assets, such as batteries, electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps, to act together as virtual power plants. They can work in harmony to store surplus power from the grid. Or, when demand starts to peak, they dial back their charging and release power to the system. This unlocks new sources of flexibility and allows for decentralised, automated responses to our energy system’s needs. Innovation in this space, includes work by Equiwatt which has a platform to coordinate smart devices in homes to respond to grid signals, enabling households to participate in demand flexibility.

A deeper dive

Our research has found that digital tools are being developed, trialled and implemented across five key areas:

• Grid balancing: digitalisation enables real-time measurements of grid inertia, helping operators make informed decisions. Open data portals are improving data availability, allowing providers to anticipate system needs.
• Resilience: tools like Virtual Lead Parties, which enable aggregation of many smaller energy storage assets, and machine learning models, which can improve forecasting and support decision making, are helping optimise energy storage and manage distributed energy resources.
• Restoration of service after high impact events: digitalisation offers new ways to support system recovery and enhance flexibility following major disruptions. Real-time digital simulation makes it possible to model system restoration processes, while digital tools can restore the electricity network by co-ordinating distributed energy resources.
• Weather-related stress events: AI-enhanced forecasting and digital twins help operators plan for extreme events and optimise the deployment of long-duration energy storage.
• Grid constraint management: AI-enhanced forecasting, advanced sensors and real-time monitoring allow network constraints to be predicted, managed and resolved to avoid overloads and maintain stability. This in turn improves the integration of low-carbon technologies including those used by consumers such as electric vehicles and heat pumps. These in turn can also be optimised with digital tools such as smart meters and AI-enhanced EV charging.

This shows how digitalisation is already beginning to transform how flexibility is delivered across the energy system. So, what’s around the bend?

To help innovators navigate this complexity, we developed the Flexibility Systems Map. This tool visualises how technologies, markets and organisations interact across the energy system and the information flows between them. We will use it throughout Innovating to Net Zero 2026 to show how these interactions and flows, and the digital tools which can support them, help to provide energy system flexibility.

What’s next as we innovate to Net Zero?

Further innovation is required if we’re going to unlock the full potential of digital solutions:

• Scalable AI systems: innovations are needed to improve AI reliability and integration with existing control systems.
• High quality, interoperable data infrastructure: real-time, high-resolution data must be accessible across the whole system. Innovations are needed in data-sharing, standardisation and cyber-security.
• Advanced forecasting and simulation tools: we need tools capable of modelling complex, uncertain scenarios.
• Seamless integration of consumer technologies: innovation is required to connect EVs, heat pumps and other devices to the grid in a way that supports flexibility and works for consumers.

Our findings align with the priorities outlined in the UK government’s Clean Flexibility Roadmap, which presents a vision for a smarter, more flexible energy system – one that is clean, secure and consumer-focused.

Our flagship Innovating to Net Zero 2026 report and event in February will highlight the innovation priorities needed to support a flexible energy system which is affordable and fit enough to thrive in the race to Net Zero. You can now download the report at the link below.