Future reserve services
A smart, flexible system that makes the best use of all the energy resources available will enable us to meet our customers’ needs in a balanced, efficient and economical way.
Our aim is to create balancing services markets that meet our changing system needs, and in which all technology types can compete on a level playing field. To achieve this, we will:
- provide market information that plainly sets out our needs;
- simplify our products to create transparency; and
- ensure routes to market for all participants.
We will publish updates on services and system needs via this page. We are keen to understand your views. You can get in touch with us to provide your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]. If you would like to be kept informed, please sign up to the mailing list using the link on the right.
Upcoming events
A series of monthly Reserve webinars covering topics relating to the Balancing, Quick and Slow Reserve services. Each session is designed to provide an update of the services and seek industry feedback on key themes.
| Title | Date | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Reserve Webinar 1 | 23 Sep 2024 | Watch Webinar |
| Reserve Webinar 2 | 21 Oct 2024 | Watch Webinar |
| Reserve Webinar 3 | 18 Nov 2024 | Register |
Past events
October Reserve Webinar
Held on 21 October 2024
Download the slides Watch the webinar
September Reserve Webinar
Held on 23 September 2024
Download the slides Watch the webinar
OBP non-Balancing Mechanism operation for Quick and Slow Reserve Webinar 13th August 2024
Following the webinar held on 13 August 2024, we have shared the slides, recording and some further materials.
Download the slides Watch the webinar Feedback form
OBP Web Services Spec Non-BM Quick Reserve Business Logic
Industry workshop for Phase 1 Quick Reserve
To be held on 1 February 2024, 14:00-15:30.
Reserve Reform update webinar 19 December 2023
Following the webinar held on 19 December 2023, we have shared the slides and a recording of the webinar.
Frequency Response Reform: market insights and procurement webinar 26 May 2022
Following the webinar held on 26 May 2022, we have shared the slides and a recording of the webinar.
Response Reform webinar 5 May 2021
Following the webinar held on 29 April 2021, we have shared the slides and a recording of the webinar, together with an FAQ document covering questions asked during the session. We have also published the feedback we received on the Dynamic Moderation and Dynamic Regulation service design.
Future of Reactive Power 26 April 2021
Following the webinar held on 31 March 2021, the Q&A document has now been published.
Future of Reactive Power webinar slides- Mar 21
Future of Reactive Power webinar slides- Dec 20
Reserve Reform
Update - 18 December 2020
The Reserve Reform project aims to deliver a standardised suite of upward and downward reserve product(s) that work holistically with new frequency response products and reserve replacement products (TERRE and MARI) and can be procured at day ahead through an auction held on the Single Market Platform from March 2022.
We are co-creating this product with industry and hosted a workshop on the 9 December 2020 to communicate the need for reserve, and NESO’s drivers when designing a product suite and market. We also wanted to understand the industry’s needs and drivers, share ideas to facilitate co-creation of a new reserve product suite and identify common themes and areas for further investigation.
You can view the slide deck and feedback on the four topics from the workshop below:
Response and Reserve Reform webinar slides - November 2021
Dispatch and communication feedback
Operability Strategy Report
Update - December 2022
We have updated our Operability Strategy Report which outlines the future operational challenges we face, driven by decarbonisation of the electricity system. It defines the operational requirements, future system needs, and capabilities required to enable a zero carbon electricity system by 2035. It also covers our progress towards meeting our ambition to be able to operate the network using 100% zero carbon electricity by 2025.
Download the Operability Strategy Report 2023
Flexibility from Intermittent Generation
March 2020
In this report we provide an overview of our current markets and the barriers that we are aware exist for intermittent generation types, along with the work that we are doing to increase access to our markets for this specific technology group. With these enablers we hope to increase competition, unlock consumer value and facilitate open and transparent markets. These are some of the deliverables that we have committed to as part of the NESO Forward Plan, and we will be continuing to report progress through the monthly and quarterly Forward Plan progress reports.
Download the Wider Strategy for Flexibility from Intermittent Generation
Response and Reserve Roadmap
December 2019
This document updates our plans for the reform of our frequency response and reserve services. It is our priority to reform the design of these services to ensure that they are capable of supporting the operation of the electricity system carbon-free by 2025. This document gives an update on the progress made since the publication of our 2017 System Needs and Product Strategy (SNaPS) document, the service-specific roadmaps, the NESO Forward Plan and initial publications on the service designs.
We are pleased to share a summary of our proposed product and service design for two new Slow Reserve products - Positive Slow Reserve and Negative Slow Reserve. There are still some areas of the services which we would like to seek your input on and will do so through our series of Show & Listen events.
Slow Reserve Service Summary - April 22
Reserve Reform Show & Listen 1 Slides - 28 April 2022
Reserve Reform Show & Listen 2 Slides - 26 May 2022
Update - 25 February 2022
On 25 February, we shared an update on Reserve Reform project delivery. We will not be launching Negative Slow Reserve directly after Dynamic Moderation in Summer 2022, and instead we will be taking the time to further engage with industry to identify the optimum approach to deliver the new reserve products.
Update - 04 November 2021
On 04 November, we held a webinar to share the product specifications for our new frequency response services - Dynamic Moderation and Dynamic Regulation, plus an update on Negative Slow Reserve.
Watch the webinar recording here
Update – 14 September 2021
Following the co-creation workshops and an internal challenge and review process, we will deliver Negative Slow Reserve as the first service in the new suite of Reserve products. This update summarises the progress made thus far on Negative Slow Reserve and provides an update on other Reserve services.
Update - 4 March 2021
We are co-creating the new reserve product suite with the industry, and this consultation aims to gather industry views on initial product designs which have been based on feedback from the industry workshop on 9 December 2020.
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Read our August 2024 update.