Flexibility as a cost-control mechanism
Flexibility has become the primary tool for managing gas-driven volatility. In the Serbian context, flexibility does not mean eliminating gas use but managing when and how gas and electricity are consumed.
At the system level, flexibility reduces exposure to marginal pricing. At the plant level, it allows producers to avoid purchasing energy during extreme price hours.
Steel and chemicals: Dispatchable load and self-generation
For steel and chemical plants, the most effective flexibility model combines dispatchable load management with self-generation. Processes that can be shifted outside peak price hours reduce exposure to volatility. Cogeneration units allow plants to convert gas directly into electricity and heat at predictable cost, insulating them from wholesale power spikes.
This model does not eliminate gas price exposure but transforms it from a market-driven risk into a managed operational variable.
Food processing: Fixed electricity, flexible gas
Food processors benefit most from fixed-price electricity procurement combined with seasonal gas hedging. Electricity price stability protects against the indirect effects of gas volatility, while gas hedging during peak seasons reduces downside risk without requiring continuous financial market engagement.
Ceramics: Gas storage and contractual flexibility
For ceramics producers, flexibility is harder to achieve operationally. The most effective model combines contractual gas flexibility with access to storage or linepack smoothing. While Serbia’s domestic storage access is limited, even partial buffering can reduce exposure to short-term price spikes.
Longer-term, ceramics producers may need to explore hybrid firing technologies or alternative fuels to reduce structural gas dependence, particularly under CBAM pressure.
Elevated by clarion.energy
