Wind power in markets for frequency support services

Larger shares of wind power in power system increase the need for system services, so called Ancillary Services. The participation to system services from wind power plants will be more and more beneficial for both the system and the wind power producers. This paper presents a summary of frequency support ancillary services markets existing in several European countries with a viewpoint of possibilities of wind power to participate in them. With the uncertainty of wind power forecasts, an economical market operation requires quite short gate closures and possibilities to small bid sizes, separately for up and down regulation services. A summary of the current procurement and requirements of several countries for frequency support services is presented. In order to assess the role of wind power in the frequency support services markets, a simple approach to estimate the size of future markets for balancing markets is made. Possible role of wind power in these markets in the future is discussed.