Contribution of wind energy to balancing markets: The case of Spain

Ancillary services are intended to ensure the quality, reliability, and security conditions of the electricity supply. Active power‐related ancillary services are considered balancing services, including mandatory services, such as spinning or primary regulation, and optional services, such as secondary and tertiary regulation. These optional balancing services have typically been supplied by conventional power plants, but since their contribution to the production share is decreasing due to high renewable energy penetration, power system operators are currently in need of alternatives. In addition, the recent advances in both the wind power industry and power system observability and controllability, and the necessary changes in balancing markets have made it technically and economically possible for wind power plants to contribute to optional balancing services. Under this framework, our study focuses on the contribution of wind power to balancing markets in the Spanish power system. Specifically, this work analyses the operational capability test for wind energy active power ancillary services provision and the results of the participation of wind energy to tertiary regulation and imbalance management from February 2016 to July 2017. Furthermore, the analysis includes a comparison with other generation technologies and the identification of upward and downward direction margins. These results show the real experience of the contribution of Spanish wind energy to optional active power ancillary services. This article is categorized under: Wind Power > Systems and Infrastructure