This chart shows you the behaviour of flexible electricity supply and demand technologies.
It is defined in the
documentation which types of technologies are considered flexible.
In this chart flexible electricity supply is stacked on the
positive axis, while flexible electricity demand is stacked on the negative axis.
The chart also shows the residual load curve, which is the difference between the
inflexible electricity supply and demand. See our
Flexibility section for more information. If the residual load curve is positive,
the inflexible supply is insufficient to meet inflexible (or baseload) demand. If the
residual load curve is negative, there is an excess of inflexible supply. Flexible
demand and supply technologies are needed to balance these shortages and excesses.
Additionally, when the prices are right, flexible supply technologies can produce additional
electricity for flexible demand technologies, which is why the stacked areas in the chart
do not always align with the residual load curve. Whether the prices are right depends
on the clearing of the electricity market, which you can read more about in our
documentation.