Purpose

The purpose of this Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) is to identify market participants capable of meeting eligibility requirements who are interested in potential participation in the Fast Regulating Reserve (FRR) Pilot Project or FRR Service. Selected participants will have the opportunity to support the AESO in developing, implementing and testing technical parameters through additional engagement.

Overview

To strengthen grid reliability, the AESO is looking at options to mitigate excessive tolerance excursions in Area Control Error (ACE), typically due to weather-related supply losses or variability, by quickly restoring ACE to acceptable levels. One potential solution is Fast Regulating Reserve (FRR), a balancing management service that would replace lost supply in an expeditious manner to maintain ACE within acceptable limits. The impacts of these weather-related supply losses and variability are further exacerbated with renewable facilities concentrated in geographic locations. When there is a weather-related event, there is potential for simultaneous impacts to multiple facilities and exceedance of the Most Severe Single Contingency (MSSC) limit.

In the event of supply loss or variability, the AESO is required to balance the AIES by deploying the necessary reserves to restore ACE to zero. This balancing is currently managed through Operating Reserves. However, given the abrupt nature of weather-related supply losses and variability, the AESO believes a more rapid energy release than what is currently prescribed under regulating and contingency reserve rules is required to restore ACE. As such, the AESO will be piloting FRR as a solution to balance this type of supply loss and variability.