On 8 August 2017 the AEMC made a final rule that maximises the number of customers who are able to provide market ancillary services, such as frequency control ancillary services (FCAS), by removing the restriction of only “market load” being able to be classified as ancillary service load.

Traditionally market ancillary services have generally been provided by large-scale generators. However, the growth in distributed generation and technological innovation has opened opportunities for customer load to provide the FCAS needed for a secure power system.  This rule expands the number of customers who are eligible to provide market ancillary services by extending eligibility to customers who were formerly excluded due to their status as “non-market load”.

The final rule came into effect on 29 August 2017.

Background

On 26 April 2017 the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) submitted a rule change request to the AEMC to amend the National Electricity Rules.

The rule builds on the Demand response mechanism and ancillary services unbundling rule change, which separated the provision of ancillary services from the sale of electricity through the creation of a new market participant, a market ancillary service provider (MASP).

Consultation

A consultation paper was published on 27 June 2017 to facilitate discussion on the rule change request. Submissions closed on 25 July 2017.  Three submissions to the consultation paper were received and are available below.

The Commission considered that the rule change request should be subject to the expedited rule making process. Written objections to the expedited process closed on 11 July 2017.  No objections were received.