Secondary control power for the blancing energy market

Due to the growing share of renewable energy generation, which cannot be controlled in the case of the most important energy sources, wind and sun, and the displacement of controllable thermal power plants, balancing generator and consumer output is becoming increasingly challenging. These rapid and large fluctuations in generation pose ever greater problems for grid operators, as they must guarantee electricity customers good energy quality, i.e. stable voltage and grid frequency. In the worst case, there is a risk of a power failure.

The major challenge with the energy mix is therefore to balance the fluctuating demand for electricity with the even more volatile supply of wind and solar power. Flexible solutions for rapid load changes and stabilisation of frequency fluctuations (control power) are required.

The balancing energy market opens up an economically attractive field of application for electric heating systems up to around 20 MW as highly flexible, grid-friendly consumers. Due to their very fast controllability, electric heaters are particularly suitable for providing secondary control power, correctly referred to as automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR). In this case, it is not the heat generated that is remunerated, but the mere provision of electrical power as a load that can be called up at short notice.

Our electric heaters can be switched on or off precisely within a few seconds, thus meeting the technical requirements of the aFRR market without additional mechanical effort. With suitable design and high availability, the investment in an electric heater system can be amortised in a very short time under certain market conditions simply through the revenues from the provision of secondary control power. The actual economic efficiency depends largely on market prices, frequency of use, grid connection costs and integration into a suitable control system.

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