Wider Access and TERRE

Wider Access will enable independent aggregators – known as Virtual Lead Parties – to participate in the balancing product as well as remove all BSC barriers to customers and independent aggregators participating directly in the RR market and in the existing Balancing Mechanism (BM).

Opening up the BM to Wider Access is important for helping the development of a smarter, more flexible electricity system in which independent aggregators can play a role.

Independent aggregators are parties who bundle changes in consumer’s loads or distributed generation output for sale in organised markets and who do not simultaneously supply the customer with energy.

The solution to be implemented under Modification P344 will provide a means for their registration and qualification.

As a VLP is a distinct new type of Party to the BSC that only participates in Settlement by offering balancing energy, they will not be subject to the same level of charges and obligations as existing BSC Parties.

Given that VLPs won’t be subject to the same level of charges and obligations, they will not be classed as a Trading Party and hence be unable to trade.

• Find out more about Virtual Lead Parties and their Market Entry requirements 

Project TERRE creates a European platform for trading reserve electricity with electricity transmission system operators in nine participating countries, including GB. 

The project will implement a new Replacement Reserve (RR) balancing product, which has been developed by a group of European Transmission System Operators (TSOs).

This will enable all TERRE participating Balancing Service Providers (BSPs) (defined as a market participant with reserve-providing groups able to provide balancing services to TSOs) to submit bids to National Grid on an hourly basis to fulfil 15 minute delivery periods.

Project TERRE will also remove all BSC barriers to customers and independent aggregators participating directly in the RR Market and in the existing Balancing Mechanism (BM) thus enabling ‘Wider Access’.

The balancing product is required to fulfil requirements on TSOs from European legislation through the European Electricity Balancing Guideline (EB GL). Among other things, the EB GL requires those TSOs that use RR balancing products (balancing energy products with a >15 minute lead time) as part of their system balancing regime to implement and make operational a new European platform for the exchange of energy.

BSC Modification P344 and Grid Code Modification GC0097 will implement the TERRE product in the GB electricity market.

• Overview of P344 TERRE changes
• More on P344 ‘Project TERRE’
• More on P344 Implementation Guidance

Industry testing is designed to assist participants with testing their own systems and interfaces and to ensure that any issues with the new or amended interfaces are identified and resolved.

Industry testing will feature NGESO and ELEXON testing their key interfaces with each other and with European platforms.

The objectives of industry testing are to:

• Validate new and amended interfaces between NGESO and ELEXON.
• Validate new and amended interfaces between ELEXON (BMRS) and ENTSO-E’s EMFIP platform.
• Enable market participants to validate changes to their interfaces with ELEXON.

View the Wider Access and TERRE Industry Test Strategy

Get involved in testing

For more information or to express your interest to participate in industry testing please contact: terre.testing@elexon.co.uk.

See a comprehensive list of files, documents and pages that details the history and evolution of Wider Access and TERRE

Derogation

Find out more about Derogation and how the request came about:

• BSC Panel Paper 292/05: Impact of Potential TERRE Derogation on Implementation of Modification P344 (John Lucas)
  ^{11 Jul 2019} 
  
• National Grid ESO: Derogation Request to Ofgem
  ^{21 Jun 2019}
• CP1517: Changes to BSC Configurable Items for the TERRE Final Implementation Date including National Grid ESO TERRE Derogation impact on CP1517
  ^{17 May 2019}

Releases

Details of Releases that will impact Wider Access and TERRE:

• Wider Access and TERRE (P344) Standalone Release page
• Feb 2019 BSC Release page Scope of release including P344 – Project TERRE implementation into GB market arrangements (Stage 1).
• Wider Access and TERRE (P344) BSC Release Circular: Feb 2019 Confirming the changes to BSC Systems, Code Subsidiary Documents (CSDs) and other Configurable Items (CIs) that we will implement for the February 2019 BSC Systems Release, including Wider Access and TERRE (P344) deliverables.
  ^{20 Feb 2019}
• Wider Access and TERRE (P344) Release Circular: Jan 2019 Further review of BSC Configurable Items amended for the Feb 2019 BSC Release.
  ^{15 Jan 2019}
• Wider Access and TERRE (P344) Release Circular: Nov 2018 Review of BSC Configurable Items amended for P344 as part of the Feb 2019 BSC Release – Batch 2.
  ^{02 Nov 2018}
• Wider Access and TERRE (P344) Release Circular: Oct 2018 Review of BSC Configurable Items amended for P344 as part of the Feb 2019 BSC Release – Batch 1.

  ^{18 Oct 2018}

Modifications

The Mofications that have an impact of Wider Access and TERRE are:

• P386 Corrections to P344 legal text
• P384 Publication of European Electricity Balancing Guideline (EB GL) balancing data by BMRS
• P380 Revision to Replacement Reserve Bid Data submission deadline requirements
• P344 Project TERRE implementation into GB market arrangements
• P379 Multiple suppliers through meter splitting
• GC0097 Grid code processes supporting Project TERRE

Other areas of interest

Additional reading regarding Wider and TERRE from September 2016 onwards:

• Wider Access and TERRE (P344) Implementation Guidance
  ^{Jan 2019}
• National Grid ESO: Wider access to the Balancing Mechanism roadmap
  ^{Dec 2018}
• National Grid ESO: Wider Access and TERRE: an update for market participants
  ^{Dec 2018}
• Report: Industry review of Configurable Item changes to deliver the P344 solution
  ^{22 Nov 2018}
• Consultation Responses P344 Project TERRE implementation into GB market arrangements: Report Phase Consultation Responses
  ^{Jun 2018}
• BSC Panel Paper 277/06 Preliminary TERRE (P344) Implementation In Advance of Ofgem Decision (Rob Greenoak)
  ^{12 Apr 2018}
• ELEXON’s Consultation Response: Replacement Reserves Implementation Framework
  ^{04 Apr 2018}
• BSC Panel Paper 270/09 Project TERRE Implementation Risks and Mitigation (Elliot Harper)
  ^{14 Sep 2017}
• ELEXON’s Consultation Response: Project TERRE 
  ^{15 Aug 2017}
• P344 Workgroup paper Extending the P344 Solution to Allow the Settlement of Secondary BM Units using Metering at the Asset (John Lucas)
  ^{21 Feb 2017}
• P344 Interim Assessment Report Attachment B: Assumptions and Risks
  ^{Sep 2016}

Industry Working Groups

During summer 2018, five industry working groups met to develop the processes required to implement the provisions of Modification P344.

• P344 IWG 1
  Registration processes
• P344 IWG 2
  Allocation of SVA MSID to SBMUs
• P344 IWG 3
  Half hourly data aggregator processes
• P344 IWG 4
  Virtual lead party processes
• P344 IWG 5
  Performance Assurance Framework