Impact of gate closure time on the efficiency of power systems balancing

Authors

Marie Petiteta, Marie Perrota, Sébastien Mathieuc, Damien Ernstc, Yannick Phulpin

Abstract

This paper focuses on market design options for operational balancing management in self-dispatch electric
power systems. In particular, it investigates the most relevant timing for the balancing gate closure, when
competitors’ decisions on the setting of controllable assets are neutralized and this responsibility is simultaneously
transferred to the system operator. This discussion is central in the development and implementation of
the European Electricity Balancing Guideline. Based on a multi-level simulation tool with a realistic modelling of
short-term power system operations, this paper proposes the first quantitative assessment of postponing the
balancing gate closure time from 1 h to 15 min ahead of the imbalance settlement period. For different environments
(energy mix, power plant capabilities, outages, etc), the results highlight that postponing the balancing
gate closure time from 1 h to 15 min increases the operational cost of the system. Based on robust and
scalable results, we show that this difference is mainly due to a better coordination of the available resources by
the central decision maker.

Energy Policy 129, 2019