Ancillary services: a key cornerstone for the stability of Romania's energy system
Ancillary services: a key cornerstone for the stability of Romania's energy system
As Romania takes important steps towards the energy transition, ancillary services are becoming a vital component in maintaining the stability and efficiency of the electricity grid. In a dynamic context, where renewable energy sources production is increasingly, the aggregation of power plants and securing flexibility from these is not only an innovation, but also a necessity.
Read the article in Energynomics Magazine - page 120
What are ancillary services and why are they essential?
Ancillary services are a set of technical solutions that ensure the stability, security and efficient operation of the electricity grid. They are essential to maintain the balance between electricity production and consumption in every second, preventing black outs or brown outs. In each country, the Transmission System Operator (TSO) is responsible for maintaining the balance, and in Romania is Transelectrica.
In a modern energy system, where intermittent renewable sources (such as wind and solar) play an increasingly important role, these ancillary services are fundamental to prevent imbalances and interruptions. These include frequency and non-frequency services:
Frequency regulation: Ensuring that the grid operates at the nominal frequency of 50 Hz, essential for the stability of the whole system. There are 3 kinds of reserves here in Romania, standardized according to the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) regulations:
- FCR stands for Frequency Containment Reserve and is also known as primary regulating reserve. FCR is used to quickly stabilize the grid within 30 seconds (automatically activated in the power plant generator without central dispatch). For example, hydropower plants, large coal or gas power plants or batteries instantly adjust the amount of available electricity in response to a frequency deviation.
- aFRR stands for automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve and is also known as secondary reserve, which is centrally automatically dispatched. The secondary reserve must be activated within either 7.5 minutes or 5 minutes, depending on the country. aFRR is provided by several different types of assets, the main requirement being that they can be fully activated within the time provided.
- mFRR stands for manual Frequency Restoration Reserve and is also known as tertiary reserve. Devices operating on mFRR must be activated within 12.5 minutes. This service is centrally dispatched by manual intervention of the TSO dispatchers.
- Voltage regulation: Voltage stabilization to prevent damage to electrical equipment and guarantee optimal operation of the grid.
- Black-Start Capability: In the event of a total blackout, certain power plants (typically hydro or diesel generators) must restart the grid without relying on external power sources.
- Congestion Management: If transmission lines are overloaded, ancillary services like redispatching or demand response (reduce electricity) help manage power flows to prevent bottlenecks.
Nano Energies is among the first licensed aggregators in Romania and a pioneer in the sector, coming with European level experience in aggregating various sources and consumers of electricity for the provision of ancillary services. Besides intelligently managing electricity production and consumption, it generates additional revenues for the owners of the units without any growth in operating costs.
Using its own hardware and software, it connects numerous smaller and larger electricity producers and consumers into a centrally managed intelligent system. This system acts as a large virtual power plant and enables users to generate revenues, while helping the national grid to remain in balance, directly supporting the Transmission and System Operator (TSO).
In the past, these functions were provided centrally by large, conventional power plants. Today, with the increasing share of renewables, the energy system needs a more flexible and dynamic approach. Romania is in the process of adapting to this new context, where Transelectrica has already planned to join the European platforms MARI and PICASSO this year. The TSO in Romania has launched the technical systems required on July 1, 2024 - Damas - for dedicated markets for ancillary services, aFRR and mFRR, but its connection to the PICASSO platform can only be done after the connection of the Hungarian TSO - Mavir.
How do ancillary services turn challenges into opportunities?
The challenges associated with integrating renewables are turned into opportunities using flexibility. Producers such as natural gas, biomass, biogas, hydro, cogeneration units, or batteries can provide ancillary services without affecting their core operation. At the same time, industrial consumers (greenhouses, compressors, lights, pumps, electric boilers, etc.) can temporarily adjust their energy consumption to support the grid.
Electricity generators and consumers are active players in maintaining grid balance, mainly by reserving capacity and activatingunits when the grid needs it. These mechanisms are organized and administered by the TSOs, which provide dedicated markets to ensure grid stability and balance.
Capacity reservation means that a generation or consumption unit is available to meet the demands of the grid when needed. This means that the producer or consumer commits to having a certain amount of power available to intervene quickly. This is required in both direction – either increasing production (decreasing consumption) or decreasing production (increasing consumption). Activation implies the actual use of the reserved capacity to change energy production or consumption at the request of the TSO.
Participation in ancillary service markets brings two direct benefits to producers or consumers:
- Additional revenues: By reserving capacity for regulation or activating on demand by the system operator, participants can generate significant financial gains.
- Resource optimization: During periods of low demand, plants can leverage operational flexibility to remain profitable.
What is a flexibility aggregator?
A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is a decentralized network of energy generation, consumption or storage units, coordinated by an aggregator to operate as a single system. It integrates advanced technologies to maximize efficiency and flexibility, giving participants access to ancillary service markets.
By aggregation into a VPP, even units smaller than 1 MW (the minimum quantity for standalone ancillary services provision in Romania), which would not be able to access the market individually, can benefit from the advantages of this platform. The aggregator coordinates operations in real time, optimizing response to grid requirements and maximizing revenues.
Importantly, each participating unit retains control over its own operation. Operation planning is done together with the aggregator, respecting the technical limitations and specific needs of each unit.
The aggregator does 24/7 dispatching maximizing the potential of producer and consumer resources, helping to:
- Easy access to markets: facilitating and connecting to ancillary service markets, including for smaller or less technologically sophisticated facilities.
- Advanced technology: monitoring and control infrastructure enabling continuous optimization of operations.
- Technical and operational support: managing technical and logistical aspects, reducing complexity for participants.
- Constant and diversified income: by combining income from ancillary services and wholesale energy markets, asset owners can generate long-term financial gains.
With the emergence of intermittent energy sources, we can say that a new energy market has been created, namely that of ancillary services. As the energy sector evolves, participation in ancillary service market becomes more and more financially attractive. An experienced aggregator such as Nano Energies, facilitates access, and basically does the commercial operation of different sources of production and consumption on this emerging market which is in its early stages in Romania.
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