Power company contracts create virtual reserve power plant

The three Swissgrid-certified companies Axpo, CKW and BKW will act as "poolers" on behalf of the federal government to set up a national virtual reserve power plant consisting of emergency power generators. To this end, they will bundle (aggregate) emergency power generators, which are voluntarily made available by their owners in return for compensation, to form virtual reserve power plants. This energy reserve can be called up by Swissgrid via remote control as needed.

The contracts with the three poolers run for four years and have a total contract value of around one million Swiss francs. Interested owners of emergency power generators with at least 750 kW output and other technical requirements according to Checklist can now register with one of the poolers. The pooler then takes care of the further steps, including the contractual details, according to the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC ). For this purpose, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) has approved standard contracts between poolers and producers so that the conditions are as equal as possible for all participants.

Emergency gensets to provide around 280 MW of power

As compensation, the owners of the emergency generators receive a provision premium, which covers, among other things, the costs for storage and transport of the fuel or the amortization of the plant by a fixed amount (10,000 francs/MW/winter). If energy is actually called up, there is also a delivery premium that covers all costs incurred for fuel, including a surcharge. There is also the possibility to offer the emergency power reserve outside the winter period on the control market. During the shortage periods, the annual runtime limit is also lifted for these plants.

The SFOE expects that in the winter of 2022/23, the pooled emergency generators will be able to provide about 280 MW of power as a national "backup power plant."

Source: DETEC