On 25 January 2022, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published the Resolution of 13 January 2022 of the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), approving the electricity system operating procedure “P.O. 3.11 Automatic Power Reduction System for generation and pumping facilities”, which introduces an Automatic Power Reduction System (APRS) as a measure to address technical constraints.
The APRS will help avoid, or at least mitigate, the impact of the measures currently applied for this purpose, such as the additional costs associated with solving technical constraints through downward redispatching due to real-time pre-contingency limitations. The main characteristics of the APRS are as follows:
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Participation in the APRS is voluntary and requires prior authorisation of the facility by the System Operator, for which the prospective participant must pass certain tests involving signal exchanges between control centres. During these tests, the facility shall not reduce its power, except in cases where it had previously lost its authorisation due to non-compliance, in which case, it must pass an actual power reduction test to regain authorisation.
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Upon activation of the reduction signal, the facility must reduce its production or consumption to zero, or to other values established by the System Operator in situations where a total load reduction is not possible for system security reasons.
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No remuneration is foreseen merely for participating in the APRS, although redispatching, if required following the reduction, will be compensated at the price of the submitted offer.
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The automatic power reduction will be applied respecting the order of priority set forth in the operating procedure for resolving technical constraints. If no such order exists or in the case of equal priority, a rotating shift system will be applied.
In addition to approving the new P.O. 3.11, the Resolution also introduces certain amendments to P.O. 3.2 Technical Constraints, as a result of the implementation of the APRS.