Ensuring a Sustainable, Reliable Energy System
Ancillary services are various functions that help transmission system operators (TSOs) ensure the reliable transmission and supply of electricity.
The most common ancillary services are power balancing services, also called frequency restoration services. These are especially important for systems that include energy from renewable sources.
Energy grids in Europe are required to supply electricity at a frequency of 50 Hz in Europe. Power balancing services help maintain this frequency by correcting imbalances between supply and demand.
Working with aggregators like Photon Energy, energy producers and energy consumers can provide balancing services by being prepared to adjust the power output or consumption of their technology when needed.
TSOs procure power balancing services in auctions, and if they are delivered as agreed, service providers are paid for periods of reservation and activation.
We conduct an energy flexibility study to identify opportunities for you to provide ancillary services.
We connect your technology to our online system and register it in the TSO’s system for ancillary service providers.
We participate in the TSO’s ancillary services auctions on your behalf.
When requested by the TSO, we remotely adjust your technology’s power consumption or production, according to pre-agreed conditions.
You receive monthly payments based on periods of reservation and activation.
After you decide to partner with us to become a service provider, we’ll begin the process of adminstration, technical set-up and registration with the TSO. The entire process will take around three months. Once complete, you’ll be ready to provide ancillary services.
No. Photon Energy is the official service provider for the TSO, and we do not pass any responsibilities onto our clients.
If you can’t deliver the energy adjustments as agreed in a given month, the monthly payment from the TSO might be reduced, but you won’t pay any penalties beyond that.
Reservation
Providers are paid for maintaining available power reserves by keeping devices ready to adjust energy output or consumption when needed. When adjustment requests are received from the TSO, devices are controlled remotely by commands from Photon Energy.
Activation
Providers are paid for activating their power reserves by making actual adjustments to output or consumption. They are required to activate their reserves within a certain timeframe, according to their agreement. Depending on the type of balancing services provided, this could be 5 or 12.5 minutes.
Auctions
TSOs procure power balancing services in auctions, and if they are delivered as agreed, service providers are paid for periods of reservation and activation.
| Technology | Estimated annual revenues before profit share |
| CHP (combined heat and power) | 400 000 PLN |
| Boiler, biogas station, hydropower plant | 400 000 PLN |
| Solar PV installation, wind power plant | 50 000 PLN |
| Battery energy storage system | 600 000 PLN |