For the purpose of guiding and providing visibility to market participants, this page presents the principal steps prior to connecting to the European platform for exchange of automatic frequency restoration reserves and the developments brought about by this project.

Beneficiaries

• Market participants
• Generators
• Consumers

Context and objective of the PICASSO project

The Electricity Balancing Guideline specifically provides for European transmission system operators to put forward a strategy for implementing a common platform for exchange of automatic frequency restoration reserves or aFRR.

The PICASSO project (Platform for the International Coordination of Automated Frequency Restoration and Stable System Operation), launched by 26 European TSOs, aims to implement this platform.

RTE ensures the balance of electricity flows over the transmission grid and oversees the revision of the French power system balancing methods, to incorporate the new changes brought about by this project.

RTE has planned the first connection to the PICASSO platform in Q1 2025.

The principal steps prior to connecting to the European platform

RTE’s connection to the PICASSO platform is planned in 3 steps

1st step: from date W, activation of automatic frequency restoration reserves according to pro rata mode at 4-second intervals (date W)

Stakeholders have been notified of date W, which is 20th July 2023.

The transition to pro-rata mode individualised at 4-second intervals was carried out in two phases:

Phase 1: A start up in general pro-rata mode at 4-second intervals.

Phase 2: transition to individualised pro-rata mode. In this mode, RPGs that do not schedule receive a zero Ni level. RPGs that schedule receive an individualised Ni level pro rata to their scheduled volume.

2nd step : from date X, activation of automatic frequency restoration reserve according to merit order mode

Stakeholders have been notified of date X, which is 21st November 2023.

3rd and final step: from date Y, connection of RTE to the PICASSO platform.

The date Y will be notified to the market participants.

The developments brought about by the PICASSO project

Scheduling

The implementation of the common platform for the exchange of automatic frequency restoration reserves does not bring about any change in the scheduling conditions of scheduling entities by market participants: the market participants submit forecast dispatch schedules by 16:30 D-1 at the latest and can redeclare them intraday up to H-1.

In case of prescription contracting process with obligated parties: an obligated party is under obligation to schedule, at a minimum, the power reserve prescribed to him on D-1 through one or more RPGs (modulo NERs procured/sold).

In case of call for tenders process for the contracting of aFRR capacities: A market participant whose capacity has been selected at the national day-ahead call for tenders is under obligation to schedule, at a minimum, through one or more RPGs, the automatic frequency restoration reserve capacity at the level selected in the call for tenders (modulo NERs procured/sold).

Energy bids

Before date X, market participants do not submit energy bids.

From date X, every RPG has an obligation to provide at least one energy bid for each validity period and over the entire certified volume.

Activation of bids

Settlement of the activated bid

1. Price per MW

2. Volume of energy settled

After date W, RTE calculates the automatic frequency restoration reserve control power for each reserve providing group as being:

Energy = Upward Energy – Downward Energy

with:

1. The Upward Energy is calculated for each 4-second interval according to the following formula when Ni is positive: 

2. The Downward Energy is calculated for each 4-second interval according to the following formula when Ni is negative:

3. ∫ represents the operator as a whole with a sampling frequency of 4 seconds;

4. N is the individual level of Load-Frequency Control (no unit) established by RTE’s national operating system at 4-second intervals;

5. RSH_PM and RSB_PM are the Upward and Downward Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserves of the Reserve Providing Group at the Final Dispatch Schedule, expressed in MW.

The Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserves at the Final Dispatch Schedule of the RPG are determined as follows:

over all of the n Scheduling Entities/Consumption SEs j making up the RPG i, of the Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve power values, at the 5-minute interval t, of the last Final Dispatch Schedule validated by RTE for the SEs/Consumption SEs j in accordance with the MA-RE Terms and Conditions.

This energy is calculated at 5-minute intervals and then 30-minute intervals for all reserve providing groups.

Example : activation of a 20 MW upward energy

Transparency

The ENTSO-E Transparency platform provides access to various market data for participants (from date Y for RTE):

Data provided by RTE

RTE will gradually provide private and public data to market participants through the following various applications:

Technical documentation

The technical documentation related to the TOPNIVEAU application and the BOSS API is available with all the other documentation related to frequency ancillary services in the "technical documentation" section of the page Providing frequency ancillary services - RTE Services Portal  

Contact

For any questions, please contact marketservices@rte-france.com.