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# Rationale for information exchange in flexibility request

USEF specifies that when sending a flexibility request, the DSO provides the following information about expected congestion. This appendix provides the rationale.

- **Information about expected congestion is provided to all registered AGRs:**
The reduction required must be made available to all AGRs operating in the specific congestion area, due to the DSO’s legal obligation to treat all market parties in a non-discriminatory way.
The grid topology, however, is considered to be confidential information.
Therefore, USEF recommends that information about expected congestion is not provided freely to the entire market at national level.

- **Information about expected congestion includes the direction of the overload (production/consumption):**
A grid overload at a congestion point can occur as a result of either too much production or too much consumption.
To reduce overload where there is too much production, either the production must be reduced, or the consumption must be increased.
For overload where there is too much consumption, this is the other way around (increase production or decrease consumption).
The implication is that the congestion information provided must be clear about the direction of the overload.

- **Information about expected congestion includes the volume of reduction required.**
While it is sufficient for the DSO to provide only information about the need for reduction, rather than the volume of reduction required for an ISP, it makes sense to provide more detailed information as this is likely to result in a more optimal use of flexibility and therefore better usage of the grid.

- **Information about expected congestion includes available grid capacity for other ISPs.**
Providing insight on the available grid capacity for the ISPs without congestion gives AGRs additional information that can be used to determine their flexibility offers.
In addition, it reduces the likelihood that the load shift provided by the AGRs will create a new peak that overloads the grid, and thus is likely to converge quicker, making the time needed to align a D-prognosis shorter.
Whether or not this time is needed mainly depends on the number of congestion points a DSO has defined.
On the downside, the more information provided by the DSO, the easier it is to get insight into the entire grid topology, especially for crucial points in the grid.
