German grid reserve: Power plants making up for stalled transmission grid development

In addition to supporting renewable energy sources, Germany also provides out-of-market support to conventional power plants through several reserves that keep the capacity needed for various purposes on standby. These include, on the one hand, reserves that provide capacity to stabilise the transmission system and, on the other, reserves that help cover electricity consumption when generation capacity is insufficient.

Germany currently keeps conventional power plants on standby in the following reserves:

• grid reserve - to provide power plant capacity to stabilise the transmission system
• special grid installations - to provide power plant capacity in southern Germany to stabilise the transmission system
• capacity reserve – to cover electricity consumption when generation capacity is insufficient
• security of supply reserve - to save gas in the energy sector by activating coal-fired power plants

The security reserve, which aimed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the energy sector by shutting down lignite-fired power plants while keeping their capacity on standby, operated until 2022. Some power plants from the security reserve were transferred to the security of supply reserve.