Integration of France into the International Grid Control Cooperation

The International Grid Control Cooperation aims at transnational netting of imbalances preventing activation of automatic activated frequency restauration reserve. Consequently, it is leading to cost reduction which yields an aspiration for extension. Currently, the incorporation of France as a new member is being considered. The additional potentials which can be generated by this extension are investigated in this paper. The analyses are based on publicly available data of a historical time period at a temporal resolution of every minute. Both cross-border interactions of power exchanges and network constraints are taken into account. Overall it can be shown that the inclusion of France into the International Grid Control Cooperation could lead to an accessible high potential of cost savings. In addition to an already relative share of avoided control reserve activation in the bandwidth between 20 and 35% per control area, cost savings of about 20 million € could be determined.