RTE would like wind and photovoltaic power plants to contribute to the primary reserve

RTE would like photovoltaic and wind power plants benefiting from a fixed-price support tariff to participate in the primary reserve in order to facilitate network management and avoid congestion. On three occasions this summer, low demand combined with abundant nuclear and renewable supply led RTE to ask several offshore wind farms and a large solar farm to disconnect from the grid. In total, 1,800 MW of capacity had to be disconnected, as RTE's primary reserve was fully mobilised. The primary reserve is based on hydro, thermal and nuclear power stations. Automatic controllers installed at these power stations provide RTE with upward or downward flexibility that can be mobilised in real time to stabilise the network. RTE is requesting that renewable installations above a certain size be equipped with similar automatic systems.