Balancing Working Group
The Balancing Working Group deals with operational, technical and market-related issues, and works to prepare the balancing market for future challenges.
Balancing generation and offtake
The Elia grid is part of Europe’s interconnected electricity system. Our national control centre balances generation and offtake in real time and manages energy flows in close cooperation with transmission system operators in neighbouring countries.
The electricity system is undergoing radical changes due to a number of factors, including:
- the increase in exchanges of energy between national electricity transmission systems following market liberalisation;
- the variability of energy flows on transmission systems, which is a result of the growing share of energy generated from renewable and intermittent sources (particularly wind power and solar power);
- the decision by Germany, Switzerland and Belgium to phase out nuclear power in the coming years;
This rapidly changing context requires Elia to develop new competencies and tools.
What does the Balancing Working Group do?
The Balancing Working Group is the platform Elia uses to consult the market when it proposes market adjustments to balancing mechanisms and ancillary service mechanisms.
The issues addressed by the Balancing Working Group include:
- adjustments to existing balancing services (FCR, mFRR and aFRR);
- a forward-looking vision of the purchase and diversification of balancing resources;
- improvements to our online publications and communications about balancing;
- potential cross-border synergies in connection with balancing.
Elia takes the Balancing Working Group’s input into account in its final proposals before requesting the appropriate approvals.
Organisation
The Balancing Working Group reports directly to the plenary meeting of the Elia Users’ Group and meets five to six times a year. Administrative duties for this working group are handled by:
- Chairman: Jan Voet
- Secretary: Thomas Van der Vorst
