Impact of Current Market Developments in Europe on Deterministic Grid Frequency Deviations and Frequency Restauration Reserve Demand

Particularly on the hour, significant grid frequency deviations can be observed in continental Europe. These deviations are deterministic and caused by large power imbalances. The latter are mainly caused by the difference between the continuous load and the stepwise changes in power plant schedules resulting from electricity trading based on hourly products. Deterministic frequency deviations are undesirable, because they lead to significant activation of balancing reserves. Therefore, several remedial actions have been implemented in order to mitigate the deterministic frequency behavior, such as the introduction of ¼-h-products in intraday markets, tighter regulation for balance responsible parties, and harmonization of EU guidelines. In this paper, the effectiveness of these actions is analyzed and the development of the frequency behavior since their implementation is evaluated. Moreover, current trends and underlying causes are presented, together with further possible measures that may be required in the future.