BASE is launching coordinated calls for proposals in Brazil and the Philippines under the Demand Flexibility Markets Accelerator. The aim is to identify, structure and support demand flexibility pilots that can grow into repeatable business models rather than remain one-off demonstrations. Up to four pilots will receive USD 200,000 each, subject to the quality and readiness of the proposals, and applicants will go through a two-stage process that begins with a concept note.

Why this call

Power systems in Brazil and the Philippines are taking in more variable renewable energy, while electricity demand is becoming more complex through cooling, electrification, electric mobility and distributed energy resources. Demand flexibility, meaning the ability to shift, reduce or modulate electricity use according to current supply/generation, allows a system to absorb more clean energy, lower its peak requirements, improve reliability and make better use of the grid infrastructure it already has.

Technology, however, is only part of the answer. Many projects still stall on customer participation, data access, regulatory treatment and financeable revenue models, as well as on the practical questions of how flexibility is measured and how it gets paid for. The Accelerator is designed to test these conditions in real pilots and to turn the resulting implementation experience into evidence, tools and approaches that others can reuse.

A collaboration with Global Grids Catalyst

The Accelerator was developed through a collaboration between BASE and Global Grids Catalyst, a philanthropic collaboration focused on advancing electricity grid modernisation, planning, building and operations worldwide. It provides grants, strategic advice and network support to civil society organisations, private-sector actors and international institutions. BASE contributes its experience in demand flexibility, virtual power plants, business-model development and pilot implementation.

What we are looking for

The calls are not imposing the use of specific technology or business models, BASE is rather looking for implementation-ready concepts that can demonstrate a measurable flexibility service, a credible commercial pathway and clear potential for replication.

Six areas are in scope: 

• Electric mobility and charging: managed charging, fleets and depots, charging hubs and, where credible, vehicle-to-building and vehicle-to-grid applications.
• Cooling and buildings: commercial and residential cooling, supermarkets, cold chains, thermal storage and smart controls.
• Tariffs and demand response: time-of-use or dynamic signals, direct activation, peak incentives and behavioural demand response.
• Commercial, industrial and agricultural loads: industrial processes, refrigeration, irrigation, pumping, cold storage and multi-site aggregation.
• Battery storage-linked flexibility: storage used to test a flexibility service, with its dispatch logic, revenue stack and commercial pathway.
• Multi-resource and virtual power plant models: aggregation of solar photovoltaic systems, batteries, electric vehicles, flexible loads or other controllable distributed resources.

Whatever the technology, every strong concept should demonstrate four things:

• Baseline: how normal consumption, generation or charging will be established.
• Participant arrangement: who takes part in the service, and under what obligations and incentives.
• Measurement and verification: how the delivered flexibility will be measured and verified.
• Settlement: how verified performance creates payment, savings, avoided cost or another reliable value stream.

How the selection works

The Accelerator uses a two-stage competitive process. Both countries follow common selection principles, with country-specific guidance that reflects their different market and regulatory contexts.

In the first stage, applicants submit a concise, evidence-based concept note covering their organisation and team, the project opportunity, customers and assets, data readiness, commercial logic, regulatory pathway, expected impact, co-financing, risks and replication potential. BASE will then shortlist the most promising concepts. Shortlisted applicants prepare a complete technical proposal and a separate financial proposal, refining the implementation plan, the measurement approach, the business and financial model, the regulatory pathway, the risk plan, indicators, budget and public-learning commitments.

Who should apply

Applicants should be organisations with a real implementation role and access, or a credible pathway to access, to customers, sites, flexible assets, technology and data. Potential applicants and consortium partners may include utilities, distribution companies, electric cooperatives, retailers, aggregators, energy service companies, technology providers, fleet and charging operators, industrial or agro-industrial companies, real-estate operators and research partners.

What the pilots will deliver

Selected projects will implement and measure at least one flexibility service and test the commercial architecture needed for replication. BASE will provide tailored technical assistance on business models, financing, customer incentives, contracts, stakeholder coordination and replication planning, as well as on the four elements described above.

The programme is also meant to create public-interest learning beyond the selected projects. Pilot evidence will inform case studies, market and regulatory learning, and reusable guidance on those same four elements and on financial-model development. Commercially sensitive information will be protected.

Be the first to know

Brazil and the Philippines will each have a separate call-opening webinar, so that applicants can receive market-specific guidance and ask questions. The sessions will explain eligibility, how to apply, the concept note, the evaluation criteria, the two-stage process and the next steps for shortlisted applicants.

Dates and registration links will follow, and the best way to hear first is to subscribe to the BASE newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn.

For more information about Demand Flexibility and Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), and projects BASE was involved in, have a look at the takeaways and recording of our latest VPP webinar.