Bulgaria can now exchange balancing energy with Greece

Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) has joined the European balancing platform PICASSO. Following the Bulgarian Electricity System Operator (ESO), this is the second operator in Southeastern Europe to become part of the European platform. This means that the two operators can now exchange balancing energy, as reported by Balkan Green Energy News.

The International Coordination of Automated Frequency Restoration and System Stability (PICASSO) platform optimizes balancing energy between control units in the Continental European synchronous area. The Bulgarian electricity system operator (ESO) became its member last month but stayed geographically isolated as it did not share borders with any other operational member. Now that the neighboring Greek transmission system operator IPTO is connected to the platform, the two countries can exchange balancing energy.

Denmark, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Italy form a geographically separate group in PICASSO.

An important step towards a common European energy market

The operator said in a statement that by becoming the 14th operational member, IPTO is taking a key step in forming a sustainable and efficient common European energy market. The PICASSO methodology and algorithm are primarily designed for cross-border provision of secondary reserve so that the electricity grid's operating frequency remains stable.

The project involves 29 transmission system operators from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity – ENTSO-E. In addition, MEPSO of North Macedonia, which shares electricity borders with both Bulgaria and Greece, is an observer in PICASSO. The platform does not include the rest of the Western Balkans.

With the latest achievement, IPTO and ESO can jointly benefit from the automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR). Romania is currently postponing its connection to PICASSO.

The platform collects and evaluates all available balancing energy offers from aFRR according to their prices, placing them in a common priority list (CMOL).

Help with balancing price spikes

The new method for calculating cross-border marginal prices, PICASSO, has significantly improved performance as the number of cases of price spikes for balancing electricity has decreased, according to the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). Integrating balancing markets across borders reduces costs and improves efficiency by allowing transmission system operators to activate cheaper offers for balancing energy, the authority explained.

IPTO also proposes the introduction of negative prices in Greece's balancing market, starting from €50 per MWh for a maximum of one year. The change would come into effect on the allocation day on April 10, right before the Easter holidays, a critical moment for grid stability.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov