Balancing energy and balancing capacity markets (mFRR)
Fingrid maintains a balancing energy market together with the other Nordic transmission system operators. A reserve provider is obliged to give an amount of up regulating bids, which corresponds to accepted capacity bids, to the balancing energy market in exchange for a financial compensation. A balancing energy market contract with Fingrid is needed to participate in the market.
The Nordic TSOs activate bids on the balancing energy market whenever necessary during normal operation or disturbances. Activation is done manually from Fingrid's Main Grid Control Center.
The balancing capacity market was introduced in the spring of 2016. A reserve provider whose capacity bid is accepted on the balancing capacity market is obliged to give up regulating energy bids to the balancing energy market in exchange for a financial compensation. The balancing capacity market is used to secure that Fingrid has a sufficient amount of Manual Frequency Restoration Reserve to cover the dimensioning fault also during maintenance of Fingrid's own and leasing reserve power plants.
From 20.11.2023 onwards, all invoicing of the balancing energy market will be handled be the imbalance settlement unit eSett. Any Balancing Service provider, who does not have an Imbalance settlement agreement with eSett through their Balance responsible party role, must sign a Balancing Service Settlement Agreement with eSett. More information about the Balancing Service provider settlement agreement and eSett’s invoicing model can be found on eSett’s website >
mFRR bids can be submitted for resources that are able to implement a power change within 12.5 minutes in accordance with the minimum bid size.
mFRR capacity bids
The minimum bid size for the mFRR capacity market is 1 MW and bids are submitted with an accuracy of 1 MW. Bids for the next day will be submitted at 08:30 (Finnish time) on the Fifty MMS market platform maintained by the Nordic TSOs in accordance with Fingrid's separate Reserve Trading and Information Exchange and BSP - Implementation Guide Nordic MMS – mFRR capacity market guidelines.
mFRR energy bids
In the mFRR energy market, the minimum bid size is 1 MW and bids are submitted with an accuracy of 1 MW.
mFRR offers are submitted to Fingrid no later than 45 minutes before the market period (15 minutes) in accordance with Fingrid's Reserve Trading and Information Exchange Guidelines.
mFRR energy bids are activated on the Nordic market platform on a scheduled basis for each 15-minute market time unit, 7.5 minutes before the start of the market time unit. A Nordic bid list is created from all Nordic mFRR energy bids by arranging the bids in price order from cheapest to most expensive. mFRR energy bids are activated in price order within the limits of available cross-border transmission capacity. For up regulating bids, the cheapest is used first, and for down regulating bids, the most expensive is used first. If a bid cannot be used due to operational conditions, the next most economical available bid is selected.
mFRR energy bids can also be activated directly between scheduled activations if the need for balancing changes unexpectedly. Direct activation mainly uses mFRR energy bids from the Finnish area, where the BSP has indicated availability for this purpose. Direct activation always applies to two consecutive 15-minute market time units.
mFRR energy bids are activated via an electronic message.
Details
Otso-Ville Rinne
Expert
tel. +358 30 395 4142
Jukka Kakkonen
Expert
tel. +358 30 395 5334