Balance Nominations: principles and methods E-Nomination: a tool that makes submitting nominations easier for ARPs Elia has created E-Nomination, an electronic nomination tool, to simplify the nominations made by ARPs. This tool allows ARPs to submit their nominations, check the status of their nominations and their data history and to ensure that they are fulfilling certain obligations. The E-Nomination tool, inspired by the practicality of e-business, has proven to be extremely effective for all ARPs, from those which manage few transactions to those who have wide activity perimeters.
I. Nominations: principles I.1. Nominations: a forecasting planning tool As the transmission system operator in Belgium, Elia has the responsibility to ensure the security of the network and to maintain balance in the Belgian control area. With respect to its first responsibility, i.e. ensuring safe and reliable grid operation, Elia must be able to predict the volume and distribution of energy exchanges on its network at different times and therefore needs to know the injection and offtake forecast for various access points. Nominations provide Elia with a short-term forecast of this (the day prior to transmission). With this information, Elia is able to plan the operation of its network for the following day and to take the necessary operational measures. With respect to its second responsibility, i.e. maintaining balance in the Belgian control area, Elia relies on the contractual arrangements linking it with the ARPs. Each ARP is responsible for balancing the offtakes and injections in its perimeter on a quarter-hourly basis both in real time and in the predictive phase (nominations). For this reason, the nominations (that is, the projected values for injections and offtakes) that each ARP gives Elia for each type of injection or offtake in its perimeter must be balanced.
I.2. The different types of activity in ARP perimeters An ARP ensures the quarter-hourly balance of the offtakes and injections in its balancing perimeter. There are different types of offtake and injection according to whether: • the ARP is responsible for offtakes at one or more access points; • the ARP is responsible for injections at one or more access points; • the ARP exports and/or imports energy from/to France and/or the Netherlands; • the ARP exchanges energy with other ARPs using the Elia Hub, a virtual platform which allows exchanges between ARPs (see sheets "Day-ahead Hub" and "Intraday Hub"). The ARP provides Elia with nominations (i.e. schedules of all the energy injections and offtakes it is planning in its access points) for each of these different types of offtake and injection. This information means that, among other things, the characteristics of a certain access point on the network on any given day and, in particular, the quantity of active power injected into or drawn from the grid on a quarter-hourly basis can be determined. Internal Energy Transfers or "Hub"
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I.3. The four types of nomination Each of these types of activity has a corresponding type of nomination: • nominations for offtake points (either collectively, by system operator for each offtake point in the distribution networks, or individually, by access point for all offtake points on the Elia grid); • nominations for injection points either by system operator for small distribution units or by unit for production units with CIPU contracts (see sheet on the CIPU contract); • nominations for a transfer of energy between APRs within Elia’s control area (also known as an internal energy transfer). The types of transfer are: • energy
transfers on a "day-ahead" basis, for which nominations are submitted by day D-1 at the latest, i.e. the day before the transfer;
• energy
transfers on an intraday basis, for which nominations are submitted on day D+1 at the latest, that is, on the day after the transfer.
For each of these types of transfer, the two ARPs involved in the exchange provide Elia with a nomination detailing the volume of energy transferred on a quarter-hourly basis and the counterparty to the exchange. • nominations for an international exchange (import or export from/to France and/or the Netherlands), within the limits of the capacities obtained for the international exchange (see sheets on yearly, monthly and daily capacity allocation for more information on capacity allocation). The types of exchange covered are: • international
energy exchanges on a "day-ahead" basis, for which nominations are submitted by D-1 at the latest, i.e. on the day before the exchange;
• international
energy exchanges on an intraday basis, for which nominations are submitted on day D, that is, on the day of the exchange1.
I.4. Schedule for submitting nominations The various nominations submitted by an ARP must keep to a certain schedule: • nominations relating to offtake points must be submitted by no later than 2 p.m. on day D-1; • nominations relating to injection points must be submitted by no later than 3 p.m. on day D-1; • nominations relating to an internal energy transfer on a day-ahead basis must be submitted by no later than 2 p.m. on day D-1. If there are any inconsistencies between the nominations submitted by the two ARPs, a correction can be submitted by one or both of the relevant ARPs any time before 2.30 p.m. on day D-1; • nominations relating to an internal energy transfer on an intraday basis must be submitted by no later than 2 p.m. on day D+1. If there are any inconsistencies between the nominations submitted by the two ARPs, a correction can be presented by one or both of the relevant ARPs any time before 2.30 pm on day D+1; • nominations relating to an international energy exchange on a "day-ahead" basis for annual or monthly capacity must be submitted by no later than 8 a.m. on day D-1; • nominations relating to an international energy exchange on an intraday basis must be submitted an hour after the deadline for capacity requests for the relevant gate at the latest (see sheet for information of intraday allocation of capacity).
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Intraday exchanges are currently only possible for exchanges (import or export) to/from France.
Start of the nomination
II. E-Nomination, the electronic nomination tool II.1. Electronic nomination: fast and easy To make the nomination process easier, Elia has developed E-Nomination, a tool which allows ARPs to communicate and to check their nominations electronically 24 hours a day. E-Nomination is both fast and user-friendly and can be used for all types of nomination, except nominations relating to production units. Although nominations for production units are passed on to Elia by means of a computer interface other than E-Nomination, the total of these nominations is still taken and displayed automatically, allowing the ARP to have a constant overall view of the nominations in its portfolio and moreover, allowing it to check that its "day-ahead" nominations are balanced (that is, on D-1).
II.2. B2C or B2B There are two ways to access the E-Nomination tool: the B2C solution and the B2B solution. • The B2C solution: web screens, which have some fields either predefined or defined as "combo boxes", allow ARPs to submit nominations. There are a number of features available: for instance, it is possible to copy an existing nomination or to submit all nominations for a one-month period in a single operation. Furthermore, consultation screens allow ARPs to look up the nominations they have submitted and to check their status, their balance, and so forth. • The B2B solution: XML files are exchanged between the ARPs’ and Elia’s applications. To do this, Elia provides ARPs with all the necessary information for the development of the B2B solution (such as file specifications, programming tools, etc.). Using the B2B solution, ARPs can recover and generate data using their own computing processes. ARPs can choose between these two solutions, but they can also use them together. For example, they could use the B2B solution to submit nominations and the B2C solution to consult data. ARP
Elia
B2C Interface
XML
WWW SERVER
INTERNET: HTTPS or RAS Database
B2B Interface
XML
XML Front-end Processor
Back-end GUI
Database
II.3. Features of the E-Nomination tool The E-Nomination tool allows ARPs to do many things, such as: • accessing their data history; • checking, using the nomination status check tool, that the ARP which is counterparty to the energy exchange has also submitted its nomination and has entered in the correct values for a nomination relating to an internal energy transfer; • checking that a nomination relating to a day-ahead international exchange complies with the allocated capacity; • checking that their nominated portfolio is balanced; • checking the status of nominations received by Elia, using the nomination status check tool (ARPs would be able to see if their latest nominations have been submitted, if they are being processed by Elia, if they are confirmed, and so forth); • submitting different versions of their nominations; • etc. Furthermore, Elia will warn ARPs of any errors identified.
Screen shot: New Nomination Execution Date
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Schedule (unit = MW) Note: moving to an empty field (by dressing tab or clicking) will copy the value from the field before. Fill blank fields with Fill right or Fill down, clear all fields with Clear 0-1 h
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00:15 15:30 30:45 45:60 12-13 h 00:15 15:30 30:45 45:60 Submit this nomination Back
III. Benefits of electronic nomination The electronic nomination system simplifies the nomination process, which benefits ARPs of all sizes in many ways. A few of the benefits are listed below:
• smaller organisations are able to take up ARP activities more easily, as all you need to access the E-Nomination tool and all its features is a PC and an Internet connection. This means that these ARPs are able to take full advantage of the opportunities the liberalised market offers them (for example, they would be able to access the Belpex stock exchange directly) without having to make costly investments to meet the ensuing nomination and balancing obligations; • the possibility of consulting all data used to invoice any imbalances and in particular, nominations with respect to the E-Nomination tool, guarantees that imbalance billing is transparent; • Elia’s electronic nomination tool is accessible to all ARPs at no extra cost, and is being considered as a model for use at European level.
IV. Legal and contractual basis The electronic nomination system is automatically accessible to all ARPs, that is, to all players which have signed an ARP contract with Elia.
Nomination in five key points • In order to ensure the security of the grid and balance in its control area, Elia requires each ARP to submit a nomination (that is, a quarter-hourly forecast of offtakes and injections) for each of its offtakes and injections. • There are four types of nomination: nomination for physical injection, nomination for physical offtake, nomination for internal exchange between ARPs and nomination for international exchange. Each of these types of nomination must be submitted according to certain deadlines. • Elia has developed E-Nomination, an electronic nomination tool which is fast, reliable and accessible. With this tool, the nomination process is considerably easier for ARPs. • There are two solutions providing access to the E-Nomination tool: a B2C solution taking the form of web interfaces, and a B2B solution taking the form of an XML file exchange between Elia and the ARP. • All ARPs can access E-Nomination. Thanks to the E-Nomination tool, it is now easier to become an ARP and to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the free market.
E3-E-16.02.2011 / Non-contractual document / Editor: J. Vandermeiren, Bd de l’Empereur 20, 1000 Brussels
• large ARPs are able to benefit from all the opportunities the liberalised market offers with the shortest possible operational lead times. Furthermore, Elia’s electronic nomination tool allows these large ARPs to hedge their risks, as they are able to directly and continuously monitor the accuracy of their nominations and the correct management of their predicted balance;