30. June 2020

The FCR Cooperation reaches the next Milestone in the Development of the largest FCR Market in Europe

The daily D-1 auctions for FCR with 4-hour products started successfully.

50Hertz, Amprion, APG, Elia, RTE, Swissgrid, TenneT, TransnetBW announce the successful first frequency containment reserve (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 FCR market closer to real time by shifting the gate closure from D-2 to D-1. The goal is to reduce the procurement costs by fostering competition between BSPs and technologies and open the market for short-term flexibilities.

This common FCR market is the largest FCR market in Europe, with a total demand of about 1,400 MW, which is almost half of the continental Europe FCR demand. The joining of Denmark-West and Slovenia is scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.

The common auction allows the transmission system operators to procure FCR at reduced 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.