Unlocking new revenues: a guide to the energy markets the Teleport supports
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Nederlands
Hardware fragmentation is no longer a barrier to energy trading. If you have a Teleport Gateway, you already own the technical setup to participate in wholesale markets, balancing markets, and congestion management energy trading in the Netherlands.
If you already have a Teleport Gateway installed, you are sitting on a powerful, “market-ready” asset. While you may currently use it for simple monitoring or local optimization, your Teleport is a universal key that can unlock multiple high-value energy markets simultaneously. Additionally, the Teleport can manage and prioritizeYou can read more about prioritization in this article. multiple signals, such as one from the trader or another from the DSO.
Because the Teleport fits the requirements of energy traders and grid operators, you can access three main categories of revenue: wholesale (EPEX), balancing (FCR, aFRR, and mFRR), and congestion management (CBC, CSC, and ZonBalans). As well as be compliant with emergency curtailment through the Realtime InterfaceFor more information on the technicalities of RTI we recommend this article. or reactive power control for TenneT (not within the scope of this article).
In this article, we explore how the Teleport supports various services, making it possible for you to navigate market fluctuations and meet your financial goals.
1. Wholesale Markets
This is where energy is traded based on supply and demand forecasts.
EPEX Spot
As the primary European exchange for day-ahead and intraday tradingYou can read more about day-ahead and intraday trading in our article here. , EPEX SPOT relies on traders to balance bids and offers with real-world asset performance. The Teleport facilitates this by providing a standardized, secure API that serves as the link between your trader’s portfolio strategy and your physical hardware. Your assets execute the specific schedules and commands defined by the trader through our API.
The Teleport allows you to make zero-price bids, meaning that if the price drops below 0, the Teleport will not allow for the production of electricity. It prevents you from paying to feed electricity onto the grid. Additionally, by staying offline during these periods, you create “upward flexibility.” You can then sell the ability to “turn back on” to the balancing market (more on that below). By automating your response to market prices, you can avoid the costs of negative pricing during the day and earn revenue by offering flexibility to the balancing market.
2. Balancing services
These services pay you to help TenneT, the national high-voltage operator, keep the national grid frequency balanced. All balancing services are managed by Balancing Service Providers (BSPs), using assets capable of rapid power adjustments.
Unlike standard energy management, balancing services often require sub-second communication to meet stringent technical rules. The Teleport is engineered to handle these demands by ensuring sub-second round-trip for signals between the aggregator platform and your assets.
Frequency Containment Reserve
The Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR) market is the first and fastest form of energy balancing. It is the primary reserve that kicks in almost immediately when the frequency of the grid is out of balanceTo learn more about the balance of the grid, read this article. . By smoothing out these small fluctuations, FCR ensures that our appliances and systems continue to operate as expected.
While traditionally dominated by controllable gas-fired power plants, FCR is increasingly provided by large-scale battery systems. By using the Teleport to participate in the FCR market, you are not only able to gain more revenue, but you are also supporting a stable grid.
Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve
The Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve (aFRR) (or “regelvermogen” in Dutch) is one of the products that TenneT purchases to create a reserve that maintains grid balance during small, continuous fluctuations. By participating in aFRR, you reserve capacity for TenneT and may increase or decrease your production/consumption based on TenneT’s signal to resolve shortages or surpluses on the Dutch grid. For aFRR in the Netherlands you are paid for both:
- the reserved capacity (availability), and
- the actual executed energy (activation).
Manual Frequency Restoration Reserve
In the event of a major disruption to the electricity grid, such as a sudden power plant outage, the manual Frequency Restoration Reserve (mFRR) is activated. TenneT can then ask installation providers to intervene, often manually, to add or reduce additional capacity. This allows the faster-acting aFRR to become available again for new fluctuations. Like aFRR, you get paid for availability (reserved capacity) and for activation (actually used energy).
The three musketeers: from instant to sustained response
In the table below we have visualized the start of the response, the full activation timeline, and how long it is used for all three of the balancing services.
| Kenmerk | FCR | aFRR | mFRR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role | Immediate response | Restores frequency to 50 Hz | Sustains balance for a long time |
| Onset time | Immediate | Starts after ~30 seconds | Minutes (starts after aFRR if needed) |
| Full activation | ~30 seconds | 5 – 7.5 minutes | 12.5 minutes |
| Typical minimum duration | Continuous availability, technical 15+ minutes at full power (unit-specific) | At least one 15-minute period; can last longer as needed | Minimum 5 minutes per activation, extendable as needed |
3. Congestion management
Grid operators pay you to reduce pressure on the local grid through specific programs and contracts:
Capacity-limiting contract
A capacity-limiting contract (Capaciteitsbeperkend contract (CBC) in Dutch)Want to know about the specifics of a CBC? Read more in our explainer article. is an agreement where you voluntarily reduce electricity transport capacity during congestion in exchange for financial compensationBased on non-input energy and potential missed subsidies..
A CBC helps grid operators maintain reliability and potentially delay the need for costly physical grid reinforcement.
Capacity Steering Contract
While older contracts (like the CBC) are passive and only allow the grid operator to reduce usage or feed-in only, the Capacity Steering Contracts (CSC) enable “active steering.” This means that your grid operator can request that you actively feed in additional power from your battery (or batteries) during a local shortage or increase your consumption to soak up excess solar.
ZonBalans
There is a lot of grid congestion in the Netherlands. That’s why Enexis developed the ZonBalans program to help solar producers who are on a waiting list for (extra) feed-in capacityGetting off of this waiting list usually takes anywhere from 4 to 10 years. In that time, a lot of energy can be wasted and revenue is missed.. For solar asset owners with a grid connection of 1750 kVA or smaller, ZonbalansWant to know more about how the Teleport allows for this service? Read more here. allows you to feed surplus energy (up to 70%) back to the grid outside of peak times.
Blokstroom
Blokstroom by Enexis was developed for those who want to draw more energy from the grid during off-peak hours (from 00:00 to 06:00). Within that time block, you can use additional power provided that the local grid has sufficient capacity at that moment in time. This offers a solution both for regions that face a lot of grid congestion as well as regions where there is enough capacity.