Demand response flexibility and flexibility potential of residential smart appliances: Experiences from large pilot test in Belgium R. D’hulst a,c,⇑ , W. Labeeuw b,c , B. Beusen a,c , S. Claessens a,c , G. Deconinck b,c , K. Vanthournout a,c a VITO, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium b KULeuven, ESAT-ELECTA, Kasteelpark Arenberg, Leuven, Belgium c Energyville, Dennestraat 7, 3600 Genk, Belgium highlights  Experiences and findings regarding the flexibility of smart appliances are shown.  The flexibility quantification is based on measurements.  Measurements were executed in 186 households, during 3 years on 418 smart appliances.  The flexibility potential calculated can be used to determine the impact of demand response. article info Article history: Received 13 February 2015 Received in revised form 28 May 2015 Accepted 29 May 2015 Keywords: Demand response Flexibility Residential households abstract This paper presents a well-founded quantified estimation of the demand response flexibility of residen- tial smart appliances. The flexibility from five types of appliances available within residential premises (washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, domestic hot water buffers and electric vehicles), is quantified based on measurements from the LINEAR pilot, a large-scale research and demonstration pro- ject focused on the introduction of demand response at residential premises in the Flanders region in Belgium. The flexibility potential of the smart appliances, or the maximal amount of time a certain increase or decrease of power can be realized within the comfort requirements of the user, is calculated. In general, the flexibility potential varies during the day, and the potential for increasing or decreasing the power consumption is in general not equal. Additionally, an extrapolation of the flexibility potential of wet appliances is presented for Belgium. The analysis shows that, using smart wet appliances, an aver- age maximum increase of 430 W per household can be realized at midnight, and a maximum decrease of 65 W per household can be realized in the evening. The resulting flexibility potential can be used as an instrument to determine the impact or economic viability of demand response programs for residential premises. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Four evolutions cause an increased need for flexibility in the electricity system. Firstly, the share of intermittent renewable energy is growing. Secondly, renewable electricity generation is increasingly injected in a decentralized manner. Thirdly, an increase of the electrical load is expected, caused by a shift from fossil fueled systems toward high efficient electrical equipment for transport and heating [1]. Fourthly, the number of traditional controllable power plants is stagnating or even decreasing [2]. Due to the combination of these four evolutions, maintaining the electricity power balance while respecting electricity grid con- straints is becoming increasingly challenging [3]. Demand response, i.e. intentional modifications to consumption patterns of electricity of end-use customers that are intended to alter the timing, level of instantaneous demand, or the total electricity [4], is being deployed to cope with above mentioned evolutions [5]. For such consumption changes to be acceptable, they may not impact the correct functioning of the appliances, nor reduce the comfort level of the users. This is what defines ‘the flexibility’ of the appliances: the power increases and decreases that are possible within these functional and comfort limits, combined with how long the changes can be sustained. LINEAR (large-scale implementation of smart grid technologies in distribution grids) was a large-scale research and demonstration http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.05.101 0306-2619/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: VITO, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium. E-mail address: reinhilde.dhulst@vito.be (R. D’hulst). Applied Energy 155 (2015) 79–90 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy