Mexico.
Wholesale design: Mercado Eléctrico Mayorista with day-ahead and real-time energy/ancillary-service co-optimization, an annual ex-post capacity balance, and conditional competitive reliability-acquisition mechanisms effective from April 2026.
Energy in CENACE Mexico trades in 2 layers: Mercado del Día en Adelanto and Mercado de Tiempo Real. Participation in Mercado de Tiempo Real is mandatory. Scheduling and settlement, where the cited sources give them, are in the table below.
| Layer | Scheduling | Settlement |
|---|---|---|
| Mercado del Día en Adelanto | hourly day-ahead commitment and schedules | local marginal energy prices and zonal ancillary-service marginal prices in the two-settlement market |
| Mercado de Tiempo Real (mandatory) | five-minute security-constrained economic dispatch with ancillary-service assignments established on the applicable real-time scheduling cycle | real-time local marginal energy prices and zonal ancillary-service marginal prices; deviations from day-ahead positions are settled in the two-settlement framework |
CENACE Mexico has 10 ancillary-service products, across 5 families — automatic frequency restoration, replacement reserve, reactive power & voltage, black start & restoration and emergency control: Dead-Bus Connection, Emergency Start, Island Operation, 10-Minute Non-Spinning Reserve, 10-Minute Spinning Reserve, Reactive Power / Voltage Support, Reactive Reserve / Voltage Control, Secondary Frequency Regulation Reserve, and 2 more. Response timing, direction and eligibility for each are in the table below; a product's full record lists the official sources behind it.
Every value below comes from the official sources listed in that product's full record. Most products cite more than one, and the published sources do not say which of them states each individual value, so the binding is to the product's record rather than to a single document. A missing line means the source does not state that value — never that the value is zero.
Scroll the table sideways for the rest of the columns →
| Service | How it activates | Response | Sustained delivery | Procurement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic frequency restoration | ||||
| Secondary Frequency Regulation Reserve Reserva de Regulación Secundaria de Frecuencia | Response type pre-contingency continuous Trigger continuous regulation around economic-dispatch base points and participation factors Dispatched by Control Automático de Generación; desired-generation signals are calculated every four seconds | No deadline established Four seconds is the AGC execution interval, not a universal full-response time for every participating unit. | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design zonal marginal reserve price; the product can also satisfy the spinning, operating, and supplemental reserve requirement hierarchy | |
Full record for Secondary Frequency Regulation Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Correct frequency and scheduled interchange deviations through centralized automatic generation control. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| Replacement reserve | ||||
| 10-Minute Non-Spinning Reserve Reserva No Rodante de 10 minutos | Response type post-contingency Trigger qualified non-synchronized capability available within ten minutes Dispatched by CENACE dispatch instruction | Expected within 10 min | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design zonal marginal price equal to the relevant stacked scarcity dual values under the reserve hierarchy | |
Full record for 10-Minute Non-Spinning Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Provide qualified non-synchronized contingency reserve and contribute to operating and supplemental requirements. Checkpoint recap Expected within 10 min What the source does not state The source states the response deadline. It does not state how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| 10-Minute Spinning Reserve Reserva Rodante de 10 minutos | Response type post-contingency Trigger synchronized capability available within ten minutes Dispatched by CENACE dispatch instruction and synchronized response | Expected within 10 min | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design zonal marginal price equal to the relevant stacked scarcity dual values under the reserve hierarchy | |
Full record for 10-Minute Spinning Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Provide synchronized contingency reserve and contribute to higher-tier operating and supplemental requirements. Checkpoint recap Expected within 10 min What the source does not state The source states the response deadline. It does not state how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| Non-Spinning Supplemental Reserve Reserva No Rodante Suplementaria | Response type post-contingency replacement Trigger supplemental-reserve requirement; current public short-term-market manual does not state one product name-embedded response deadline Dispatched by CENACE dispatch instruction | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design same supplemental-reserve marginal price as spinning supplemental reserve | ||
Full record for Non-Spinning Supplemental Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Provide non-synchronized capacity for the supplemental-reserve requirement after faster reserve categories. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| Spinning Supplemental Reserve Reserva Rodante Suplementaria | Response type post-contingency replacement Trigger supplemental-reserve requirement; current public short-term-market manual does not state one product name-embedded response deadline Dispatched by CENACE dispatch instruction | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design same supplemental-reserve marginal price as non-spinning supplemental reserve | ||
Full record for Spinning Supplemental Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Provide synchronized capacity for the supplemental-reserve requirement after faster reserve categories. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| Reactive power & voltage | ||||
| Reactive Power / Voltage Support Potencia Reactiva / Soporte de Voltaje | Response type continuous or directed Trigger facility- and location-specific reactive-power requirement Dispatched by CENACE instruction and automatic voltage control | Through outside the short-term market, regulated or directed Pricing design regulated tariff or applicable non-market ancillary-service compensation | ||
Full record for Reactive Power / Voltage Support — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Inject or absorb reactive power to maintain local voltage. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| Reactive Reserve / Voltage Control Reservas Reactivas / Control de Voltaje | Response type continuous or directed Trigger facility- and system-specific reactive reserve need Dispatched by CENACE instruction and automatic voltage control | Through outside the short-term market, regulated or directed Pricing design regulated tariff or applicable non-market ancillary-service compensation | ||
Full record for Reactive Reserve / Voltage Control — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Keep reactive capability available to control system voltage. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
| ||||
| Black start & restoration | ||||
| Dead-Bus Connection Conexión a Bus Muerto | Response type restoration Trigger facility- and restoration-plan-specific Dispatched by CENACE restoration instruction | Through outside the short-term market, regulated or contractual Pricing design regulated tariff or applicable non-market ancillary-service compensation | ||
Full record for Dead-Bus Connection — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Energize and connect to a de-energized bus as part of transmission-system restoration. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| Emergency control | ||||
| Emergency Start Arranque de Emergencia | Response type restoration Trigger facility-specific restoration requirement Dispatched by CENACE emergency or restoration instruction | Through outside the short-term market, regulated or contractual Pricing design regulated tariff or applicable non-market ancillary-service compensation | ||
Full record for Emergency Start — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Start generation under emergency or restoration conditions without relying on ordinary market commitment. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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| Island Operation Operación en Isla | Response type emergency and restoration Trigger facility- and restoration-plan-specific Dispatched by CENACE instruction and protection/control schemes | Through outside the short-term market, regulated or contractual Pricing design regulated tariff or applicable non-market ancillary-service compensation | ||
Full record for Island Operation — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Operate a facility or electrical area in an islanded condition to preserve service and aid restoration. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
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No central capacity market. CENACE Mexico has 2 capacity/adequacy arrangements — Mercado para el Balance de Potencia and Mecanismos de Adquisición por Confiabilidad — and they work differently.
The MBP balances residual capacity obligations and uncommitted capacity after bilateral Electricity Hedge Contracts. It calculates zonal demand/offer curves and settlement prices but is not a forward capacity auction.
The framework was effective from 2026-04-03. CENACE had issued and reported case-specific 2026 reliability-acquisition solicitations for energy and associated products in the Peninsular-Tabasco region by the cutoff. This does not convert the annual ex-post MBP into an auction and does not establish a standing capacity market.
case-specific competitive reliability solicitation; the framework itself does not establish a recurring forward capacity-auction calendar
Current as of · from the Global Electricity Market Catalogue v1.2.0 (compiled to , CC BY 4.0, rendered here with wording edited for readability). Facts belong to the linked official authorities; verify the current rules before design or bidding decisions.
The markets index holds the full set. For what the grid demands of a battery here, see the grid-code ride-through atlas.