What exactly are system services? To understand the importance of this hidden side of the energy market, let’s go back to the event in Gösgen.
Small teams of experts in regulating energy flows, employed by the hundreds of distribution network managers and producers active in the country, are on the lookout in front of their screens. They form a national network of regulators of electricity flows. They are experienced engineers or electricians who master technical and market issues on a macroscopic scale. Every day, they respond, at the lowest cost, to calls for contributions centralized by Swissgrid. The sudden shutdown of the nuclear power plant, a major shortfall in the country’s production, triggered a complex energy management process.
“For the Gösgen incident, Swissgrid operators came to collect part of the replacement energy from our production plants,” recalls Julien Voegtli.
By accelerating turbines to engaging batteries to manage flexible consumption, flexibility managers carry out a series of specialized services – the famous system services – on the electric parks (around ten large power plants at Romande Energie). “We do not necessarily act on our electric fleet. We can act very well in others and vice versa with decentralized flexibility aggregations,” specifies the expert. For the Solothurn stop, 22 MWh is immediately supplied by Romande Energie to Swissgrid.
These readjustments are the result of demanding work. The responsiveness of these shadowy hands in the event of an incident is there 24/7. System service providers rarely know the exact reasons for their mobilization by Swissgrid. In the case of Gösgen, numerous articles and press releases made it possible for once to quickly find the cause.
“Every time an incident of national scope occurs, we receive increased or decreased energy requests from Swissgrid,” explains Julien Voegtli. We are never told who is behind the call, or what its cause is. We simply know that there is an imbalance to compensate. »
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