Balancing energy is a central mechanism for stabilising the electricity grid in Europe. It equalises deviations between planned and actual feed-in, which are mainly caused by fluctuating renewable energies. Grid operators use balancing energy to ensure balance in the grid and maintain the supply.
Balancing energy is a term from the energy industry that refers to the difference between planned and actually consumed or fed-in electrical energy in the electricity grid. As electricity production and consumption must be in balance at all times in order to ensure the stability of the grid, deviations can occur if, for example, actual electricity consumption is higher or lower than expected or renewable energy sources such as wind and solar generate more or less electricity than forecast.
Balancing energy is used to compensate for these deviations. This energy is provided by so-called balancing energy products, which either activate additional generation capacity or adjust consumption. The task of the grid operators is to procure and utilise this balancing energy in order to compensate for fluctuations in the grid and keep the grid frequency stable at 50 Hz. The costs for the procurement of balancing energy are then passed on to the market participants that caused the deviations.
