Balancing Facility Status

The IMO has applied a classification to all facilities currently operating the energy market. All facilities have been registered as either ‘Active’ or ‘Non-Active’ in Balancing. The following restrictions will apply to 'Active' and 'Non-Active' Balancing Facilities in accordance to MR 7A.1.11.

 

Balancing Active Facilities

Active facilities are not restricted in their bidding ability, and can adjust their balancing offers in the Balancing market subject to the Market Rules.

Balancing Non-Active Facilities

Balancing ‘Non-Active’ facilities must offer their Resource Plan at the minimum STEM price in their Balancing offer, and the remaining capacity must be offered only at the respective facility price cap. Balancing 'Non-Active' facilities may only deviate from this condition and change their balancing submissions where required to do so to comply with an Operating Instruction from System Management.

 

 

12 September 2012

Pursuant to the Market Procedure for Balancing Facility Requirements, the IMO has determined to vary the conditions that apply to Non-Active Balancing Facilities.
 
The current condition (Balancing ‘Non-Active’ facilities must offer their Resource Plan at the minimum STEM price in their Balancing offer, and the remaining capacity must be offered only at the respective facility price cap) is varied to add the following modifier – “Balancing 'Non-Active' facilities may only deviate from this condition and change their balancing submissions where required to do so to comply with an Operating Instruction from System Management.”

This variation applies to all Non-Active Balancing Facilities.

The reason for this variation is to ensure that Non-Active Balancing Facilities can vary their Balancing Submission in the event System Management issues an Operating Instruction which, in the absence of the above variation, would not be able to be complied with.

This variation will apply from Trading Interval 18-1 on 12 September 2012.

 

Criteria

The IMO has made an assessment and based on the following criteria for Balancing Facilities:

Criteria	Description
Ability to Receive Electronic Dispatch Instructions	Market Participants must ensure that for each of their Balancing Facilities they are able to receive electronic or backup Dispatch Instructions issued by System Management in accordance with the PSOP: Communications and Control Systems. (Balancing Facility Requirements Market Procedure Section 2.1)
Confirmation of Dispatch Instructions	Market Participants must confirm receipt of Dispatch Instructions to System Management, in accordance with the requirements in the PSOP: Communications and Control Systems and the PSOP: Dispatch, each electronic or backup Dispatch Instruction from System Management. (Balancing Facility Requirements Market Procedure Section 2.2)
Implementation of Dispatch Instructions	Market Participants must ensure that each Dispatch Instruction from System Management for one of their Balancing Facilities is implemented in accordance with the requirements outlined in the PSOP: Communications and Control Systems and the PSOP: Dispatch. (Balancing Facility Requirements Market Procedure Section 2.3)
Ramping capability	Market Participants must ensure that, subject to the Requirements in Section 2.3 of this Procedure, each of their Balancing Facilities is capable of responding to an electronic Dispatch Instruction from System Management to ramp upwards or downwards to a target MW level at a rate less than or equal to the Facility's Ramp Rate Limit (Balancing Facility Requirements Market Procedure Section 2.4)
Non-Scheduled Generators - Implementation of Dispatch Instructions	Only with respect to dispatch instructions to decrease generation
Non-Scheduled Generators - Ramping capability	Only with respect to dispatch instructions to decrease generation

The facilities have been designated as Active or Non-Active as shown in the file below: