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On 7 February 2024, ACER has received the transmission system operators’ (TSOs’) proposal to amend:
- the common methodology for harmonising the pricing balancing energy and cross-border capacity; and
- the implementation framework for a European platform for the exchange of balancing energy from frequency restoration reserves with automatic activation (aFRR).
What are the amendments about?
In relation to the pricing methodology, TSOs are proposing to:
- Reduce the technical price limits of the integrated balancing energy markets.
- Lower the transitional price limit.
- Use an alternative way to compute the prices from the platform for the international coordination of automated frequency restoration and stable system operation (PICASSO) to better reflect the bids activated by the TSOs.
In terms of the aFRR implementation framework, the TSOs propose introducing the possibility of using an elastic demand. This would allow them to price a segment of their demand and therefore establish a threshold beyond which they are unwilling to activate balancing energy. This would improve the TSOs' ability to manage the balance between cost efficiency and the need for maintaining high-quality frequency.
What are the next steps?
To gather inputs from stakeholders and inform its decision-making process, ACER will:
- run a public consultation from 26 March to 23 April 2024;
- hold a webinar on 8 April 2024 to present and discuss the main elements of ACER’s public consultation.
ACER will reach a decision by 7 August 2024.
