Starting this Wednesday, Red Eléctrica will limit the entry and exit speed of wind and photovoltaic energy into the electrical system. The new instruction increases from two to fifteen minutes the ramps with which these technologies can increase or reduce their production, with the aim of attenuating the “rapid dynamics” that are generated when their contribution to the network suddenly changes. The measure, of immediate application and without a defined completion horizon, will affect renewable discharge in real time, according to the sector itself.
The decision comes almost half a year after April 28 blackoutafter which the operator has maintained a reinforced operation with greater programming of synchronous technologies (combined cycles, hydraulic and nuclear) to provide support to the network. In this context, REE avoids talking about “surges”, as industry sources maintain, and prefers the term “fast dynamics” associated with plants based on power electronics.
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The Government supports the operational change. Sara Aagesen, third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, defended that it is up to REE to “seek the best mechanisms to guarantee good functioning in each and every one of its parameters.” “Of course, we want the greatest penetration of renewables, but above all there is security of supply,” he stressed after meeting with social agents for the State Pact against the Climate Emergency.
The renewable sector warns of economic impacts, since the extension of the ramps can leave, apart from wind and photovoltaic, certain adjustment activations (setpoints that went from one hour to every 15 minutes), a relevant source of income for many promoters. Red Eléctrica categorically denies this and assures that both technologies “will be able to continue participating perfectly” in the adjustment markets.
A more stable electrical grid
The instruction is added to the scheme that REE has applied since April 29 and that prioritizes a greater weight of synchronous generation in the previous day’s programming to strengthen the stability of the network. Unlike these ex ante forecasts, the announced change now acts in real time on the response capacity of wind and photovoltaic, lengthening the power rise and fall times.
REE recalls that the ramp instructions have been provided for in the regulations since 2020, that they could be activated at any time and that they were already used in 2024. Sources in the sector indicate that they will come into force on October 8 and admit that “it is not known how long” they will remain in place, as is the case with the reinforced operation.
How can this affect the price of electricity?
In terms of the bill, it is most likely that the measure will put upward pressure (although in a limited and specific manner) on the energy component of the bill during the hours in which part of the renewable discharge (of almost zero marginal cost) has to be replaced by more expensive synchronous generation in the wholesale market.
The effect goes in the same direction as the literature indicates, since the greater the renewable presence, the lower prices due to the logic of the “merit order”; If its entry is restricted at specific times, the married price tends to rise compared to the unrestricted scenario.
In addition, adjustment services (which correct deviations and stability in real time) can gain weight in the final cost. Between 2024 and 2025 they already added around €11.4/MWh to the average price of energy, and after the blackout in April they temporarily skyrocketed, making the bill more expensive.
If the new ramps involve more balancing interventions, part of that cost will continue to be passed on to the consumer (especially those covered by the PVPC regulated tariff, where the energy term incorporates OMIE, futures and adjustments). All in all, the reform of the PVPC from 2024/2025, which introduces a forward price quota, tends to cushion the volatility of these tensions on the invoice.