Ancillary services

The impact of ancillary services on the average final energy price was €11.43/MWh, higher than the €10.73/MWh registered in 2023. The weight of this service on the average final price amounts to 15%.

The impact of ancillary services is greater in the months with a higher percentage of renewable energy, which means that the energy scheduled for security is higher.

Impact of the ancillary services on the final price

In 2024, the cost of ancillary services was 2.668 billion euros, 7.5% higher than in the previous year.

Cost of ancillary services in €M

€/MWh€

The energy needs managed through ancillary services were 17.7% higher than in 2023. Energy scheduled for security was 29.8% higher, due to the increase in energy caused by technical constraints to the PDBF (39%), while real-time restrictions increased by 11.4%. The balancing energy used increased by 2.9%, mainly as a result of the increase in secondary and tertiary regulation energy, as well as IGCC. There was a decrease in secondary regulation energy.

The energy volume due to technical restrictions to the PDBF represents 43.3% of the total ancillary services, higher than the 36.7% it represented last year. The total volume of energy scheduled for security purposes amounts to 60.6%.

Energy requirements covered by ancillary services

GWh

Virtually all weighted average prices of system ancillary services in the Peninsula were lower than those of the previous year, except for those associated with technical restrictions during phase II, which were slightly higher:

Average weighted prices of ancillary services in the peninsular electricity system

€/MWh