On 27 March 2001 the NETA (New Electricity Trading Arrangements) system came into force, designed to deliver competitive, market-based trading arrangements for electricity whilst maintaining a secure and reliable electricity system. NETA facilitated parties to be able to trade off their imbalances close to real time (the Balancing Mechanism) and replaced the original pool system. NETA became BETTA (British Electricity Trading Transmission Arrangements) in April 2005 covering the regions of England, Wales and Scotland. The rules for participating in the BETTA market are defined in the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC). Participants connecting to and using National Grid’s high voltage transmission system must abide by the contractual framework defined by the Connection and Use of System Code (CUSC).
The balancing mechanism is one of the tools National Grid uses to balance electricity supply and demand close to real time. It is needed because electricity cannot be stored and must be manufactured at the time of demand. Where National Grid predicts that there will be a discrepancy between the amount of electricity produced and that which will be in demand during a certain time period, they may accept a ‘bid’ or ‘offer’ to either increase or decrease generation (or consumption). The balancing mechanism is used to balance supply and demand in each half hour trading period of every day.
In order to operate the balancing mechanism, the BSC requires that Participants are able to communicate electronically with National Grid and must provide operational and dynamic data of intended position and availability (EDT) and near real time communication for each trading period of changes to intended position and availability and to receive instructions from National Grid of required changes to output and bid/offer acceptances (EDL). Any variances to the agreed position with National Grid are subject to imbalance charges managed under the Settlement process for up to 14 months after each trading period.
Genstar4 is a software suite used by market participants to manage the key end-to-end activities for operating in the UK BETTA market, including trading data notifications to the central market and physical notifications to National Grid. For Generators participating in the Balancing Mechanism, Genstar4 provides functionality to support the management and submission of Physical Notifications (adjusted automatically for external factors e.g. weather), forecasts and Bid / Offer submissions ahead of gate closure. Post gate closure, Genstar4 manages the receipt and processing of balancing instructions and ancillary service requests (EDL). Genstar4 provides a real time graphical holistic view of contractual, availability, physical and actual position at unit and portfolio levels and alerts the user to deviation via alerts and audible alarms.
Genstar4 also supports the financial reconciliation and dispute process receiving SAA settlement data files and compare it to the system calculated position using actual metering data delivering high level financial summaries and drill down exception management to trading period level.
Historical balancing bid market activity and imbalance and price forecasts can be viewed and analysed to support bidding decisions using the Quasar subscription service.
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Email: info@enegen.co.uk