Quick reserve

12 February 2025

We are pleased to confirm that we have launched the EBR Article 18 consultation for the new Quick Reserve Phase 2 for both BM (Balancing Mechanism) and non-BM (non-Balancing Mechanism) market participants’ service.

We encourage all interested parties to respond to the consultation prior to closing at 17:00 on Friday 14 March 2025.  Please see the documentation in the 'QR Phase 2 Consultation' folder for more details.

We would like to thank industry stakeholders for your patience and continued support as we continue the delivery of our suite of new reserve reform products.

12 June 2024

We are pleased to confirm that we will launch the EBR Article 18 consultation for the new Quick Reserve Phase 1 (BM only) service during the week commencing 24 June 2024. This is later that we had previously communicated to industry due to the additional feedback received on the service and procurement design which we have taken time to carefully consider and discuss with providers before proceeding.

Delivery of Quick Reserve Phase 1 service is planned to launch with the first auction on or around 28 November 2024 based on a decision from the authority on or around 1 November 2024.

We will be holding an industry webinar during this initial consultation period and will be publishing details of this shortly, meanwhile we would like to thank industry stakeholders for your patience and continued support as we progress with delivery of our suite of new reserve reform products. 

19 May 2023

ESO has come to the decision to delay the delivery of the new Reserve reform products, Slow and Quick Reserve – originally planned for October and November 2023.  As a result, we will not be launching our EBR Article 18 consultation to industry as planned at the end of May.

This decision has been taken in light of the significant changes that would have been required in our existing, legacy balancing systems and processes, given the complexity of the new service designs. In the midst of a complex and rapidly evolving systems change environment, we believe it is more prudent to re-evaluate these changes to consider if implementation into our legacy systems is still appropriate, as opposed to direct implementation into our Open Balancing Platform (OBP).

Postponing the rollout of our new Reserve services grants us the opportunity to re-examine our proposed service designs, evaluate our IT options, and collaborate with you more effectively. This will ensure that the best solutions are delivered and that the necessary updates to our balancing systems are apt for enhancing our operational toolkit and are better aligned with the implementation of our future systems.

In the coming weeks we will be looking to understand the extent to which we review the proposed services designs and IT solutions. We will then communicate how and when we intend to engage with you in this process via the Future of Balancing Services distribution list.

 20 April 2023

Last month, we held a webinar on 9 March where we updated industry on our delivery plan and provided a refresh of the services (please refer to the Document Library tab for the documentation and recordings). 

This delivery plan indicated launching our EBR consultation towards the end of April with the dependencies being further exploration of system changes and the quantum of change acceptable to market providers as well as the ENCC. We have also noted the feedback on Crossovers from the market and we are still analysing the most optimal solution for the end consumer. 

As we are still working through these dependencies and feedback, the EBR consultation will be moved provisionally to the end of May. 

We intend to update and confirm our delivery plan for Quick Reserve and Slow Reserve in Future of Balancing Services newsletter.