Today, Red Eléctrica interrupted the electricity supply to the country’s large industry for the third time this year. According to sources consulted by this newspaper, The supply outage occurred at 7 p.m. with a forecast to last until 9 p.m. to face the demand ramp that usually increases during this time.
According to several sources consulted by elEconomista.esthe decision to apply the Demand Response Service (SRAD) was applied after the sharp increase in energy consumption caused by a sharp drop in temperatures in Spain and which has taken the figure to exceed 40,000 MW.
At practically 9 p.m. this Wednesday, that is, when the SRAD had already stopped applying, Red Eléctrica was still not reporting the decision on its website.
According to the system operator’s own data, the generation mix included a large contribution from the gas combined cycle plants that were responsible for producing 44% of the demand, but they were also incorporated into the system 6% cogeneration, 2.82% coal and up to 1.12% diesel engines.
Wind energy, for its part, contributed a scant 6.5% while photovoltaic energy completely disappeared from the energy mix. In addition, The Ascó nuclear power plant was in cold shutdownwhich meant that the manager barely had additional resources to deal with a major problem.
In this way, according to the sources consulted, REE was once again left without tertiary energy reserves and had to apply this measure to guarantee the security of electricity supply.
The tertiary regulation reserve is defined as the maximum power variation that a programming unit can make in a maximum time of 15 minutes.
Throughout this year, the electricity system operator has already applied a similar cut of 609 MW on two more occasions due to problems with said tertiary reserve.
Last July Combined cycle plants reduced their production from 9,207 MW to 8,745 MW But there was a significant reduction in the wind production forecast, which led to a cocktail of events that put the electrical system in check.
At that time, as in the first outage, Red Eléctrica insisted that “The continuity of supply was never compromised.the objective of the activation order – which was applied for approximately three hours, as established by the regulations – is to guarantee the reserve levels established in the operating procedures in response to a specific situation in which the resources available in the system.”
The service used on these three occasions to guarantee the supply had the participation of marketers and consumers with a demand of at least 1 MW and, therefore, It does not apply to domestic consumers or small businesses.
The industrialists who provide this service are compensated with a marginal price of 40.82 euros for each assigned MW and hour for their availability to reduce their consumption in the established time periods.
According to data from Red Eléctrica, the weighted average price at the time of the May interruption was 63.29 euros/MWh and that on Wednesday, 114.42 euros/MWh. At the moment the price applied today is unknown, since REE has not yet officially recognized the problem at the time of going to press.
The SRAD is a balancing mechanism provided for in current regulations to guarantee the necessary balance between generation and demand. It can be applied in those situations in which it is identified that the system does not have sufficient resources to maintain the adequate level of system reserve, as happened on Wednesday, and assumes that industries commit to reducing their consumption for a maximum duration of 3 hours per day per provider and with at least 15 minutes’ notice.
During 2023, The SRAD was used twice at the beginning of September and this is the third time that this exercise has been put into operation.
Red Eléctrica has been promoting demand participation in adjustment services for years because it is a tool that offers greater flexibility to the operation of the system and promotes the decarbonization process. Countries such as France, Portugal and the United Kingdom have different specific mechanisms that allow them to take advantage of these resources to cover flexibility needs. However, the electricity sector is still waiting for the approval of the so-called capacity payment mechanisms.
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