AST plans to join the European aFRR energy platform PICASSO on April 10 and start procurement of aFRR capacity on the Baltic balancing capacity market on April 15
AS "Augstsprieguma tīkls" announces its readiness to start tests with the European automatic frequency restoration reserves (aFRR) energy platform "PICASSO" and plans to join the PICASSO platform on April 10 of this year.
As soon as all Baltic TSOs have joined the PICASSO platform, AST, together with other Baltic TSOs, plans to start procurement of aFRR capacity in the Baltic balancing capacity market starting on April 15, for the delivery day of April 16.
Starting from April 16, aFRR energy exchange between the Finnish TSO and the Baltic TSOs on the Estonian-Finnish border is also expected to begin.
As previously reported on December 18, 2024, the implementation of the aFRR market and joining the PICASSO platform had been postponed due to technical reasons independent of the Baltic TSOs.
On January 5, 2024, AS "Augstsprieguma tīkls" together with the other Baltic transmission system operators (TSOs) published the Baltic energy market concept for frequency restoration reserves with automatic activation (aFRR), which aims to introduce common rules and principles in all three Baltic zones, including principles in accordance with the European aFRR energy market processes, which the TSOs will ensure through participation in the European unified aFRR platform - PICASSO.
On February 4, 2025, the Baltic balancing capacity market created by the Baltic TSOs, AST, Elering and Litgrid began operating. The capacity market will provide the necessary power reserve for system balancing and frequency control. Until now, only frequency containment reserves (FCR) and manual frequency restoration reserves (mFRR) were procured.
Balancing capacities are a service purchased by the TSOs to ensure the guaranteed availability of balancing resources. The auctions take every day, in which the operators order balancing capacities for the next 24-hour period from the offers submitted by balancing service providers. If necessary, the TSOs use the ordered balancing capacities for frequency deviation management. These orders take place in the balancing energy market.