Report

Survey on power system ancillary services

Updated 2025-02-24 Published 2020-12-10

This report provides a survey on how Australia, Ireland, UK and U.S. Texas have set up their respective markets, regulations and ancillary service products to ensure a stable power system due to increased amounts of intermittent production.

The technical requirements for ancillary services depend on the characteristics of the power system. The four regions provide a forecast, however, of the direction in which the ancillary services are developing. Technically, various additional grid services, such as frequency and voltage control, could be provided by almost all nuclear power plants, NPP, in the future, if an adequate market design is established.

Automatic and/or manual Frequency Restoration Reserve products may well be the best candidates for the ancillary services provided by NPPs in the Nordic countries. The Nordic NPPs can also participate in economic dispatch, redispatch and voltage regulation, and there are already various examples of such operation, e.g., Ringhals 1 in the summer of 2020, participated in voltage control for the Swedish grid system.

News

New method for investigating concrete structures in nuclear power plants

Nuclear power, which accounts for about 30% of Sweden's electricity production, plays a crucial role in delivering fossil-free electricity. As many nuclear power plants are approaching the end of their planned lifetime, it is crucial to extend their operating periods to meet current and future needs. Markus Nilsson at Lund University has spent four years investigating how non-linear ultrasonic methods can be used to detect and assess corrosion in concrete-embedded containment liners in nuclear power plants. The work has resulted in a doctoral thesis.

24 feb 2025

"Lifetime extension of nuclear power needs more focus"

The Life After 60 – Long Term Operation of Nuclear Power conference, hosted by Energiforsk last week, was fully booked. The importance of lifetime extension, the need for competence, and why green politicians acknowledge the necessity of nuclear power were three key topics that resonated throughout the event.

28 jan 2025 - Kärnkraft

Exploring vibrations in power plants with Professor Rainer Nordmann

Energiforsk and Professor Rainer Nordmann have arranged a one-day-lecture tour of Sweden and Finland on turbogenerator vibrations.

4 apr 2024 - Kärnkraft

Pump course in the Netherlands strengthened the Nordic nuclear power competence

– I appreciate that we were given the opportunity via Energiforsk to design a course that suited our purposes and hope more colleagues will have the opportunity to take it, says Lena Skoglund.

15 nov 2023 - Kärnkraft

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Survey On Power System Ancillary Services Energiforskrapport 2020-708
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About the report

Report number

2020:708

Author

Seppo Hänninen, Corentin Evens, Poria Divshali John Millar, Matti Lehtonen Tatiana Salnikova