Serbia has registered 122 MW of active-buyer capacity on its transmission system, marking the development of an industrial electricity model that combines consumption with generation, storage and demand flexibility.
- Industrial customers combine consumption and generation
- Factories can optimise their overall electricity position
- Existing industrial equipment can provide flexibility
- Digital systems support market participation
- Balancing creates additional market responsibilities
- Storage adds another flexibility option
- Registered capacity sets an initial market base
Elektromreža Srbije (EMS) chief executive disclosed the figure at the OIE SRBIJA 2026 conference, indicating that active buyers are becoming part of the country’s electricity market beyond individual demonstration projects and regulatory frameworks.
Industrial customers combine consumption and generation
Unlike conventional electricity consumers, active buyers can combine grid consumption with electricity generation behind the meter, energy storage and controlled loads. Depending on their technical and contractual arrangements, they can also sell surplus electricity and participate in power markets either directly or through aggregators.
The 122 MW currently registered remains small relative to Serbia’s overall electricity generation and consumption, while establishing a base for greater industrial flexibility. The model can apply particularly to electricity-intensive industries with controllable processes, including metals, chemicals, food processing, refrigeration, pumping and automotive manufacturing.
Factories can optimise their overall electricity position
The active-buyer model allows an industrial facility to manage several electricity assets and contracts as a combined portfolio rather than focusing solely on its supply tariff. Factories can increase consumption or charge storage during periods of lower electricity prices. When prices rise, they can reduce non-essential loads, use locally generated electricity or discharge stored power. Surplus generation can potentially be sold, making the management of a facility’s net load an important part of its electricity strategy.
Energy-management companies, traders and aggregators can provide forecasting, nominations, imbalance management and dispatch optimisation for industrial customers that do not operate their own continuous trading functions. Aggregators can also combine the flexibility of several factories into a larger portfolio for participation in electricity markets.
Existing industrial equipment can provide flexibility
Industrial flexibility does not necessarily require new generation capacity. Factories already operate pumps, compressors, refrigeration systems, furnaces, HVAC equipment, water-treatment facilities, electric boilers and other equipment whose electricity consumption can sometimes be shifted without changing final output. Refrigeration systems, for example, can temporarily reduce electricity consumption while maintaining required temperatures, while pumping systems can adjust operating schedules according to reservoir levels.
Compressed-air systems can also provide limited demand-shifting potential through operational buffering. Individual adjustments may be relatively small, but combining flexibility across several facilities can create a larger market resource.
Digital systems support market participation
The active-buyer model requires metering, telemetry, automated controls and consumption baselines to determine how much flexibility an industrial facility can reliably provide. An aggregator offering a contracted 5 MW reduction needs to establish how much capacity is available, how long it can be sustained, how quickly the facility can respond and when consumption needs to recover. The available flexibility differs between industries. Refrigeration facilities may provide short-duration adjustments, while pumping operations can potentially shift electricity consumption over several hours. Continuous-process plants may have limited ability to interrupt production but can still offer flexibility through auxiliary equipment.
Balancing creates additional market responsibilities
Changes in industrial consumption and generation affect the market position of the responsible party, making forecasting, scheduling, nominations and settlement important components of active-buyer participation. Unforecast deviations can generate imbalance costs that reduce revenues from flexibility.
This creates a role for electricity traders, suppliers and independent aggregators. Suppliers can incorporate active-buyer services into their relationships with industrial customers, while independent aggregators can provide optimisation services without taking over electricity supply contracts. Technology companies can provide control platforms, with traders managing wholesale-market positions.
Storage adds another flexibility option
Behind-the-meter storage can reduce grid consumption during high-price periods, absorb on-site renewable generation and provide rapid flexibility. Combined with industrial demand and on-site generation, storage can allow a factory to operate as an integrated energy portfolio.
Industrial demand provides a predictable consumption base, generation reduces electricity purchases, storage manages short-term variations and flexible processes add further control. Together, these resources can function as a small virtual power plant.
Registered capacity sets an initial market base
The 122 MW of active-buyer capacity currently registered on Serbia’s transmission system represents an early stage of the market. Further development will depend on how much registered capacity can become controllable and how industrial companies are compensated for providing flexibility. Participation also depends on ensuring that electricity-market activity does not interfere with core industrial production. Future expansion of the category will therefore involve not only additional registered capacity, but also the use of industrial flexibility, surplus electricity and portfolio optimisation within Serbia’s power market.
