Principles of transmission of balancing energy bids

All balancing bids are submitted to RTE, whether standard or specific bids.
Specific bids are made for each of the 6 price ranges of the delivery day.
Standard bids are made on the four 1/4-hour intervals that make up one hour of the delivery day.
Any BE offered in standard must also be offered in specific (with the exception of small BE with a maximum offered capacity of less than 10 MW and more than 1 MW).

The submission process

Balancing bids can be submitted by the balancing service provider from D-7. Bids are taken into account by RTE at different gate closures.

The initial gate closure corresponds to the system access deadline D-1 at 16:30. All of the bids submitted prior are taken into account at this gate closure. Then, 24 intraday gate closures are located on the hours from 23:00 on D-1 to 22:00 on Day D. The submitted bids are taken into account when their validity period begins at least one hour after the gate closure on which they were submitted.

Bids may be submitted and amended up to the last round hour before the start of the delivery time.

If a bid is modified, each newly received file for a given delivery time replaces the file previously received for that same gate closure. The checks and conditions for acceptance of tenders are detailed in the IS Terms and Conditions.

Content of bids

All balancing bids must contain the following information:

• the BE it is associated with
• the day D concerned
• the validity period
• the bid direction (upward or downward)
• the bid price, in €/MWh
• the conditions of use

Depending on the type of bid filed by the balancing service provider, the content may be different:

Modification and withdrawal of a bid

It is possible to modify or withdraw a balancing bid that has not yet been activated. Changes may include:

• the price
• the conditions of use (including the power offered)

Changes or withdrawals are transmitted at the intraday redeclaration gate closures They are taken into account one hour after the gate closure at which they were submitted: this is the neutralisation lead time. A price change is only taken into account if the range in question starts at least one hour after the gate closure at which it was submitted.

Technical terms

The submission of specific and standard bids is done on the same platform as the forecast dispatch schedules. This is the TOPASE platform.

The terms for transmission of balancing bids are described in the IS Terms and Conditions and application guides.

Additional information

• Becoming a balancing service provider

Reference documentation

• TOPASE documentation for submitting standard and specific bids and forecast dispatch schedules 
• Introduction to TOPASE HMI