The new European platform for replacement reserves has been launched on 6 January by Transmission System Operators (TSOs) from eight countries: Czech Republic (ČEPS a.s), United Kingdom (National Grid ESO), Poland (Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne S.A.), Spain (Red Eléctrica de España S.A.U.), Portugal (REN – Rede Eléctrica Nacional, S.A), France (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité), Switzerland (Swissgrid AG) and Italy (Terna-Rete Elettrica Nazionale SpA). The platform fulfils the obligations under Article 19(1) of the Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2195 of 23 November 2017 establishing a guideline on electricity balancing (EB Regulation).

The Replacement Reserves Platform (RR Platform) will enable the exchange and optimised activation of a standard product for balancing energy as defined in the Replacement Reserve Implementation Framework (RRIF) approved by the relevant regulatory authorities on 15 January 2019. The platform serves the EU Target Model for the integration of the balancing markets.

The launch of the RR Platform represents the completion of several years of effort, from defining business rules to developing an IT solution and testing the system with market participants. The RR Platform is based on the LIBRA solution, a common IT system which supports the exchange of the balancing energy by pooling the available balancing energy bids and providing an optimised allocation of the bids to meet TSOs’ imbalance needs.

ČEPS was the first TSO to connect to the Platform on 6 January 2020, while the other TSOs will connect with the following estimated go live dates:

• REE and REN in Q1 2020
• Swissgrid, TERNA, NG ESO and RTE in Q2 2020
• PSE in Q4 2021/Q1 2022.