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The daily D-1 auctions for Frequency Containment Reserves (FCR) with 4-hour products started successfully.
50Hertz, Amprion, APG, Elia, RTE, Swissgrid, TenneT, TransnetBW announce the successful first FCR auction with 4-hour products held on the 30th of June 2020 for the delivery period of the 1st of July 2020. In addition to reducing the product length from one day to 4 hours, the FCR Cooperation brings the market for primary balancing power closer to real time. The goal is to reduce the procurement costs by increased competition between balancing service providers and technologies and to increase market attractiveness for short term available flexibilities.
This common FCR market is Europe’s larges market for primary balancing power, with a total demand of about 1,400 MW, which is almost half of the continental Europe FCR demand. The joining of West Denmark and Slovenia is also scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.
The common auction allows the transmission system operators to procure FCR at minimum cost for end users, while offering a large common market for all balancing service providers. It also reduces the volatility of the prices due to common procurement and increases the level of security in grid operation by executing a cross zonal procurement of FCR.
The FCR Cooperation is a voluntary initiative of the transmission system operators and it is the first regional cooperation to achieve a common market using the method for the exchange of the control reserves specified by the Guideline on Electricity Balancing (EBGL). The development was carried out with the involvement of stakeholders and national regulatory authorities.