Public consultation on the impact of the Belgian control block on the Deterministic Frequency Deviations in Europe

Context

Elia is conducting a study regarding the impact of the Belgian Control Block on the deterministic frequency deviations ("DFD”) that are observed within the Continental Europe synchronous area and of which the frequency and magnitude are increasing. The study contains an analysis of the main current and possible future causes as well as of the possible options to limit Belgium's contribution to the European deterministic frequency deviations.

If no action is taken in continental Europe to stop the worsening of the DFD problems, this leads to the following risks

• overloading of high voltage lines at hourly changes
• using the FCR reserves for another purpose (namely for the DFD) than those for which they are normally intended (frequency stabilization following an incident), resulting in the inability to stabilize the frequency when both events occur simultaneously
• a slower response of the system to frequency fluctuations during DFD resulting in an increased risk of decoupling production units.

In order to guarantee an adequate frequency (control) at all times, new, stricter quality criteria have to be agreed upon by every network operator within the framework of the operational cooperation between TSOs in continental Europe, which take better into account the DFD problems.

If these criteria are not met, a network operator will have to propose measures to be able to meet the criteria in the future. In the absence of convincing and effective measures, a network operator will have to contract more FCR to cover the quality shortage (which entails a social cost).

At the request of the regulator CREG, Elia holds a public consultation on the content of the report to take into account the opinions and comments of the Stakeholders.

Period

Elia invites all stakeholders to submit their comments and suggestions on the consultation document during the consultation period from 1 July to 31 August 2020.

After the consultation period, Elia collects all comments and feedback from the market parties. Elia will analyse these comments and integrate them into a consultation report together with Elia’s responses. In addition to the consultation report, Elia will publish the reactions of the market parties (including names) on the website, unless it is explicitly stated that the contribution is to be considered confidential.