Advantages and Challenges of Balancing Power Cooperation With a Focus on Fcr Cooperation

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Recording of Wednesday, May 07, 2025 | The smarter E Europe | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 10:12 .

Matthias Discusses the Economic and Technical Benefits of FCR Corporation in Balancing Capacity Corporations Amidst Challenges.

Matthias discusses the transition from balancing energy corporations to balancing capacity corporations, focusing on Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR) cooperation. He emphasizes optimizing the procurement process for GSOs to ensure real-time system balance and highlights a joint effort with several other GSOs in FCR optimization. The German GSO initiated this collaboration in 2011 alongside Swissgrid, leading to a common auction that expanded over time; now involving 12 GSOs across nine countries covering about half of continental Europe's initial FCR demand. Economic benefits are significant, evidenced by an estimated welfare increase of around €120 million due to reduced procurement costs and decreased producer profits—though these figures remain assumptions without precise behavioral data from BSPs outside cooperation. Technical advantages include better renewable integration and mutual support among GSOs when local reserves fall short. However, challenges persist: harmonizing market designs across participating nations is crucial but complex; benefit-sharing mechanisms require careful calibration given varying export-import dynamics among TSOs; high-price scenarios during outages pose additional hurdles despite long-term cooperative gains outweighing isolated incidents.

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Matthias Kuring
Senior Expert Balancing Concepts
50Hertz Transmission
Germany

Grid planners face the complex challenge of transmitting energy from emerging renewable generation hubs to demand centers, while also addressing the growing need for high-capacity connections for storage plants, electrolyzers, and data centers. These developments present significant challenges for grid planners, grid operators, service providers and project developers. This session will explore the technical, regulatory, and logistical hurdles involved in managing these demands and examine innovative solutions to ensure reliable, efficient grid integration and future-proof energy systems. It also discusses the importance of system planning and examines how different stakeholders can contribute to optimization efforts that enable better prioritization of investments and the achievement of European goals.

Further Talks of this session:

Speaker

Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz
Director Energy Systems
Renewables Grid Initiative
Germany

Video is not available.

Speaker

Dr. Anser A. Shakoor
Executive Leader
GE Vernova
United Kingdom

To Talk

Speaker

Dr. Alexandre Oudalov
Manager Power Systems of the Future
Hitachi Energy Germany AG
Germany

To Talk

Speaker

Dr. Sankara Subramanian
Utility Market Leader
Saft Batteries
France

To Talk

Speaker

Dr. Dominik Schlipf
Team Manager System Balance
TransnetBW GmbH
Germany

To Talk

Speaker

Dr. Sankara Subramanian
Utility Market Leader
Saft Batteries
France

Dr. Anser A. Shakoor
Executive Leader
GE Vernova
United Kingdom

Dr. Dominik Schlipf
Team Manager System Balance
TransnetBW GmbH
Germany

Dr. Alexandre Oudalov
Manager Power Systems of the Future
Hitachi Energy Germany AG
Germany

Matthias Kuring
Senior Expert Balancing Concepts
50Hertz Transmission
Germany

Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz
Director Energy Systems
Renewables Grid Initiative
Germany

To Talk

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