USEF Flex Trading Protocol

The Universal Smart Energy Framework (USEF) has been developed to drive a fast, fair and lowest cost route to an integrated smart energy future. By delivering one common standard, it enables cost-efficient connectivity of all smart energy projects and technologies. Its market structure, roles, rules and tools for the commoditization and trading of flexible energy usage work with existing energy markets.

The USEF Flex Trading protocol (UFTP) is a subset of the USEF framework. Focused specifically on the exchange of flexibility between Aggregators (AGRs) and DSOs, it describes the corresponding market interactions between them to resolve grid constraints by applying congestion management or grid-capacity management. UFTP can be used as a stand-alone protocol for flexibility forecasting, offering, ordering, and settlement processes.

UFTP and the USEF Framework were originally developed, maintained and audited by the USEF Foundation. In 2021, USEF moved to the Linux Foundation Energy, and the project is rebranded as ‘Shapeshifter – a universal flex trading protocol’.

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