Parallax to build Elexon flexibility rules platform
Parallax has been appointed by Elexon to build a digital platform for Great Britain's flexibility market rules. Elexon facilitates flexible markets in the electricity system.
The project will create a national platform intended to serve as the main source of market rules, data definitions and compliance processes for participants across the sector. The system is designed to give users structured access to the latest rules and enable them to submit data and evidence of compliance.
The flexibility market covers arrangements under which consumers, businesses and generators adjust electricity use to help balance the grid. This can include shifting, reducing or increasing demand to ease pressure on the network.
Britain's flexibility market is the largest in the world, and officials view it as an important part of the wider shift to a lower-carbon electricity system. The new platform is intended to simplify participation for a broad range of users, from smaller generators to larger energy operators.
According to details released by the two organisations, Parallax will build functions to help users understand which rules apply to them and what steps they need to take. The platform will also support Elexon in tracking adoption, implementation and compliance across the market.
Rules platform
The system is set to replace a series of fragmented processes with a single digital environment. The aim is to improve transparency for market participants while making it easier to update and publish rules securely.
Technical features due to be included in the platform include AI-assisted discovery, ontology-driven search, structured rule content, and workflows with version and access controls. The design also includes audit trails intended to show how rules and technical outputs have been managed over time.
For participants, the practical aim is to reduce the difficulty of navigating complex technical and regulatory relationships. For the market operator, the platform is expected to provide end-to-end visibility, from onboarding and registration to compliance monitoring and performance reporting.
Dario Grandich, Co-founder and Director of Parallax, described the programme as nationally significant and said the technology would go beyond a conventional online repository.
"We're proud to be supporting a programme of national importance that underpins the UK's transition to a more flexible, low-carbon electricity system," he said.
"The platform we're building goes far beyond a traditional website or repository. It combines structured rule content, compliance workflows and ontology-driven search to make complex market frameworks usable at scale. AI-assisted discovery will help participants understand how rules apply to them and what actions are required, while giving Elexon deep insight into adoption and compliance across the market," Grandich said.
Market reform
Elexon has placed digitisation at the centre of its work as a facilitator of the flexibility markets. The platform forms part of a broader overhaul intended to create clearer and more consistent ways for stakeholders to engage with the rules.
Steven Gough, Head of Flexibility at Elexon, said the new system would bring together processes that are currently spread across multiple channels.
"Digitisation is central to how we deliver our role as market facilitator. This new platform replaces fragmented processes with a coordinated, transparent and scalable environment that gives stakeholders clarity and enables us to monitor implementation more effectively," said Gough.
"Our goal is to increase participation and accelerate the growth of flexibility markets to support the transition to clean power, and this platform is a critical enabler of that ambition. This is a complex programme with an ambitious timeline, so we needed a partner with proven technical and information-security expertise as well as the agility to deliver at pace, and Parallax brings exactly that," Gough added.
The platform is scheduled to go live in October 2026.