Gen­er­a­tion is­sues

The costs of security of supply from power plants

Chart: Security of supply from power plants

Transmission system operators (TSOs) are legally entitled and obliged to take the measures necessary to maintain the security and reliability of the electricity supply system. There are various possible measures:

Redispatch: reducing and increasing electricity feed-in from generation (esp. power plants) or consumption under a contractual arrangement with, or a statutory obligation to, the network operator with the costs being reimbursed.

Grid reserve power plants: deploying grid reserve plant capacity (acc. To §§ 13a ff EnWG) to compensate in case of a deficit of redispatch capacity under a contractual arrangement with the costs being reimbursed. The grid reserve is secured under a strict regulatory regime by domestic power plants classed as essential for the system, which the operators were planning to close provisionally or permanently. In the event of additional demand, reserve capacity is secured through contractual ties to power plants outside of Germany.

Security standby: the temporary provision of capacity at lignite-fired power plants to ensure security of electricity supply and their subsequent final closure to be remunerated in accordance with section 13g Energy Industry Act (EnWG).

Feed- in management: compensated curtailment of feed-in from renewable energy and combined heat and power (CHP) electricity at the network operator's request. Beginning on Oct. 1st 2021 special regulation for feed-in management is merged with general redispatching rules (so-called: Redispatch 2.0).

Capacity reserve: TSOs are reimbursed the costs of keeping reserve capacity available for balancing the German grid control cooperation when there are capacity balance deficits on the electricity markets. About the procurement procedure (German)

Gas-fired power plants that are essential for the system: gas-fired power plants that are identified as essential for the system receive cost reimbursement for securing gas capacity for electricity generation. About the designations (German)

Special grid facilities: an instrument, procured only once in 2020/2021 for power plants capable, to quickly restore network stability in the event of actual failure of one or more facilities in the transmission system. This is known as curative redispatching. About demand and procurement (German)

Ruling Chamber 8 is responsible for the cost management of these measures. This may take place beforehand to determine the appropriate amount of remuneration but at the latest occurs as part of the review of the network charges. Effective regulated costs are included in the TSOs' revenue cap without delay as permanently non-controllable costs and are thus part of the network charges.