Flexibility: why and how? Opportunities for the smart prosumer

Practical, prosumer-oriented tour through the Belgian electricity market and how flexibility creates value at every layer. Starts with the basics — kW vs kWh, the three contract types (fixed, variable, dynamic), and typical household and SME consumption profiles — then explains why the system is changing: from controllable centralised generation to weather-dependent renewables, the duck curve, and increasingly common negative prices on sunny Sundays. Walks through the Day-Ahead market on EpexSpot (BRP portfolios, 12:00 closing, hourly/quarterly auction) and how that produces the dynamic tariffs households now see. Then real-time imbalance settled by the TSO via frequency-containment, automatic and manual restoration reserves (FCR, aFRR, mFRR), with the role of FSPs, aggregators and the Capacity Remuneration Mechanism. 
Closes with how a household or SME actually captures the value: designing flexible processes (EV charging, hot water, batch processes), using energy buffers (thermal storage, EV battery, home or industrial battery), and orchestrating it all with an Energy Management System.