Comparison of European Power Balancing Markets - Barriers to Integration

The European power balancing markets undergo disruptive changes due to the new European regulations. The commission regulation “establishing a guideline for electricity balancing” (GLEB) gives guidance to integrate markets in Europe. Intermediate harmonization of products for balancing services is scheduled already in 2018. The situation for concerned system operators, balance service providers and balance responsible parties in Europe will change. This paper presents an investigation of current differences in national power balancing markets and potential barriers for the integration. A systematic comparison of market designs and reserve controller set-ups with the predefined choices of the upcoming guideline took place. Identified barriers for the harmonization are differences in reserve controller set-ups and activation strategies. The task is to agree on common power balancing products, full activation time of all reserve types, prequalification requirements for service provider and rules for cross-border balancing.