Transelectrica (TEL) announces the first activation in the balancing market of a reserve supply group (GFR) consisting exclusively of demand points with controllable consumption, without any production unit or storage facility in its composition. The activation took place on September 1, between 12:00 and 12:30, at the disposal of the dispatcher of the National Energy Dispatcher (DEN), on the Manually activated Frequency Restoration Reserve (RRFm / mFRR) at the increase – reserve delivered by a demand point by temporarily reducing consumption by 3 MW.
The group, formed by the Flexumers aggregator, the first Romanian company to offer flexibility and balancing services through Demand Response models, had previously passed the technical qualification tests coordinated by DEN. This is the first time that, in the National Electricity System, demand, and not production, effectively provides balancing energy, available to the dispatcher, TEL announces.
The regulations establish a minimum threshold of 1 MW for participation in the Balancing Market and the System Services Market, regardless of the type of reserve. Until now, this threshold has kept consumers who, individually, do not reach it out of the markets. Through aggregation, several consumption sites can be brought together in a single group that exceeds the threshold and can be qualified.
By qualifying and now activating a GFR formed by consumption, consumers have an operational path to enter the Balancing Market and the System Services Market – with revenues for service availability and for effectively modulated energy, without investment in production assets.
Demand response is a mechanism by which electricity consumers voluntarily participate in balancing the National Electricity System, responding to the dispatcher’s request through a temporary and predetermined change in their own consumption, usually a reduction or increase within a certain time interval. Demand response is voluntary, predetermined and contractual, verifiable by reference to a baseline consumption and remunerated, both for the availability of the reserve and for the energy actually delivered. For the transmission and system operator, a reserve provided by consumption is quickly available, does not require new capital in production capacities and does not produce carbon dioxide emissions
“The first activation of a group formed entirely of controllable consumption points confirms that the consumption side can respond to the dispatcher’s request with the same technical rigor that we require of any dispatchable unit – this time not only in tests, but in the real operation of the Balancing Market. This was possible thanks to colleagues from the National Energy Dispatcher, the TELETRANS teams and the involved structures from Transelectrica and ANRE, whose work transformed a regulatory framework into a real resource. It is an additional resource of flexibility, quickly available and without new investments in production capacities and an important step for the safety of the system’s operation”, says Virgiliu Ivan, Director of the National Energy Dispatcher, Transelectrica
“The first activation confirms that consumption flexibility can be exploited as a dispatchable resource, at the operational standards of the National Electricity System. Consumers who, individually, do not reach the participation threshold now have, through aggregation, effective access to the Balancing Market – a source of income from the flexibility they already have in the process. We thank Transelectrica, especially the National Energy Dispatcher and TELETRANS, for the technical collaboration that made this result possible”, adds Marius Chiriac, Managing Director of Flexumers.
The qualification operationalizes the commitments assumed by Romania through Component 6 – Energy of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), within the framework of the electricity market reform. The reform involved the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/944 into the Electricity and Natural Gas Law no. 123/2012 and the introduction of aggregation, independent aggregator and demand response into primary legislation, followed by ANRE secondary legislation on technical qualification and participation in the Balancing Market. The transition from the legislative framework to the first effective activation, in the market, of a group formed by consumption marks the moment when the reform becomes functional.
