Tertiary Control - Manual Frequency Restoration Reserves (mFRR)

The mFRR market comprises of two steps of tenders: the capacity tender and the energy tender. 

In capacity tenders, market participants offer prequalified capacity for power provision which they are then also required to offer in the balancing energy market if their bid is selected. Besides the capacity offered, a bid for manual frequency restoration reserves (mFRR) is characterised by the capacity price. Based on this price, the bids submitted are ranked in ascending order (merit order list (MOL) for capacity). The most advantageous bids for APG are ultimately awarded – in accordance with the published award criteria and requirements – for power provision. 

The second phase of the market is intraday energy tenders (balancing energy market). Here, providers can adjust the energy prices submitted in the capacity tender or offer other prequalified capacities independently of the capacity tender.  

If it becomes necessary to activate mFRR in the APG control area, the most advantageous offers available to cover these requirements will be activated by APG for a minimum delivery time of 5 minutes by means of an automated optimization and web-based activation tool (AutoMOT).

Tenders for mFRR in the APG control area

More detailed and legally binding information as well as the documents required for participation in the tertiary control reserve tenders can be found under Downloads.

Capacity tender

The required mFRR is put out to tender in Austria on a calendar-day basis (from Monday to Sunday). The most important times in the tender are summarised in the table below: 

The following chart shows the sequence for a delivery day: 

Should it be necessary in an exceptional case to postpone or change the times shown, market participants will be notified in a timely manner. 

Tendered quantity 

The tertiary control reserve required in the APG control area currently amounts to +280 MW (positive TRR) and -195 MW (negative TRR), which are procured in daily power tenders. The dimensioning of the tertiary control reserve to be tendered can be changed by the control area manager if necessary.

Tendered products

The tertiary control reserve is procured daily in six 4-hour products (delivery and procurement) via APG's RRAP tender platform:

Minimum and maximum bid

The minimum bid size for bids by a bidder per product is 1 MW. Bids in excess of this may be submitted in whole 1 MW increments, up to a maximum of the pre-qualified capacity.

Award procedure

After the offer period of the capacity tender has ended, the offers will be ranked based on the following criteria and awarded: 

• lowest capacity price; and 
• where identical capacity prices have been submitted the allocation of bids will be determined by reproducible chance.  
• Market participants whose bids have been selected will receive the capacity price submitted for their bid, i.e. settlement follows the pay-as-bid principle. Providers are required to also state energy prices in their capacity bids. The energy prices submitted in the capacity tender will be used for the energy tender and can be modified (upwards or downwards) up until the end of the offer period of the energy tender.

Unsuccessful tender

If a daily capacity tender is unsuccessful because the required volume is not reached, for example, the valid bids will be accepted and a second call will be issued for the shortfall. 

If there are still shortfalls after a further invitation to tender, a last call will take place. In this case, APG asks the providers to offer any available capacity by e-mail, and/or by telephone.

Energy tender

The tertiary control power required is put out to tender in Austria on an intraday basis (from Monday to Sunday). Bids can be submitted and modified from the publication of the results of the capacity tender up until 25 minutes before the delivery period of the product time slice. The most important times in the tender are summarised in the table below:

Tendered products

Tertiary control energy is added in a product resolution of 15 minutes:

Minimum and maximum bid

The minimum bid size for bids by a bidder per product is 1MW. Bids in excess of this may be submitted in whole 1 MW increments, up to a maximum of the prequalified capacity.

Award procedure 

After the offer period of the energy tender has ended, the bids will be ranked based on the following criteria and awarded (see Downloads).

Procedure in the case of disruption 

If the energy tendering process cannot be completed in full for technical reasons, all entries made up to that point lose their validity. Substitute energy prices will be calculated for preparing the merit order list. 

The substitute energy prices for delivery day D will be calculated for each provider and for each product time slice based on the energy bids submitted by the provider for the past 14 delivery days preceding the gate closure time of the capacity tender (D-1).

The exact calculation steps are defined in the modalities for control reserve providers (see Downloads).