News & events

2024-10-10

Baltic electricity transmission system operators joined European balancing energy platform MARI in preparation for synchronisation

The Baltic TSOs Litgrid, Augstsprieguma tīkls and Elering have joined the European TSOs' common balancing energy platform MARI. Participation in the European balancing market will open new opportunities for electricity generators and large consumers in the Baltic States to provide balancing services. The new balancing market will provide additional revenues for market participants and give TSOs wider access to the resources needed to balance the electricity system.
 
"We have become a member of the single European electricity balancing market and have taken a step towards the synchronisation of the Baltic States in February next year. Every day and every hour, Litgrid ensures that electricity consumption and production in Lithuania are balanced. For this purpose, we buy balancing services from electricity market participants. Joining MARI brings several advantages. Going forward, we will have the opportunity to purchase balancing services in a larger and more competitive market at the lowest possible cost. On the other hand, Lithuanian electricity market participants will have access to a broader market for balancing services and will be able to compete in the European electricity balancing market,” says Donatas Matelionis, Head of Power System Operations Department at Litgrid.
 
Manually Activated Reserves Initiative (MARI) platform enables the exchange of Manual Frequency Restoration Reserve (mFRR) balancing energy between interconnected European transmission system operators. This helps to ensure a stable, secure and efficient supply of balancing power, ensuring a single market for mFRR balancing power. Connecting to the MARI platform also improves the reliability of the electricity transmission system and the operational efficiency of operators and market participants, which will create opportunities to integrate more generation from renewable sources.
 
Since 2018, the unified Baltic balancing energy market platform COBA has been in operation with a trading interval of one hour. Now that the Baltic countries have joined the European MARI platform, the trading interval has been reduced to 15 minutes. While the existing minimum bidding requirement of 1 MW of minimum balancing reserve remains unchanged, the new time interval allows this capacity to be bid for a shorter period. This opens the balancing market to smaller electricity market participants. In the future, it is planned to introduce a 15-minute trading interval also in the intraday and day-ahead electricity markets.
 
Balancing services can be provided using a variety of technologies, including energy storage batteries, solar and wind farms, flexible consumption. In the balancing energy market, participants can offer to reduce or increase their generation or consumption capacity immediately, so that the TSO can ensure a continuous balance between generation and consumption.
 
The MARI platform is designed to efficiently exchange balance energy between European Union countries. This initiative was launched under the European Electricity Balancing (EC) Regulation (EU 2017/2195) to optimise the use of balance energy between countries, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
 
In preparation for joining the MARI platform, Litgrid has implemented a new energy balance and ancillary services management system.
 
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became the fourth, fifth and sixth countries to join the MARI platform. The Czech Republic and Germany joined the MARI platform in October 2022, followed by Austria in June 2023.