Dimensioning of frequency reserves for the Italian power system in the European balancing platform framework

The European Electricity Balancing Guideline, entered into force on December 2017, aims at creating an integrated market, where European Transmission System Operators (TSOs) can exchange electricity balancing resources, maximizing the overall social welfare. A set of standardized balancing products has been defined and dedicated platforms for their exchange are under development in the framework of four main pan-European projects, including TERRE (Trans European Replacement Reserve Exchange). The new set of standardized products, as well as the new balancing platforms, has to be fully integrated in the framework of the Italian ancillary service market (ASM). This paper provides a critical review of the current reserves products adopted in the Italian ASM, and how they can match with the standardized European products. The integration of the Italian ASM with the TERRE project is also described, including the sizing strategies adopted by the Italian TSO for the Replacement Reserve (RR) activation demand to be submitted to the European platform. Finally, areas of potential development are identified in order to further improve the efficiency of the RR activation process, aiming at minimizing system costs and, at the same time, coping with high system security standards.