Germany/Luxembourg electricity market

Germany; Luxembourg. Status: operational.

Wholesale design: EU-coupled zonal market with common German balancing tenders on Regelleistung.net.

Market type
Jurisdictional market
Operators
50Hertz · Amprion · TenneT Germany · TransnetBW · EPEX SPOT
Dispatch model
self-dispatch; four TSOs jointly procure balancing reserves
Where energy trades

Where does energy trade in Germany/Luxembourg electricity market?

Energy in Germany/Luxembourg electricity market trades in 4 layers: day-ahead, intraday, balancing and off-market capacity reserve.

What a battery can sell

What ancillary services can a battery sell in Germany/Luxembourg electricity market?

Germany/Luxembourg electricity market has 3 ancillary-service products, across 3 families — frequency containment, automatic frequency restoration and manual frequency restoration: automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve, Frequency Containment Reserve, manual Frequency Restoration Reserve. 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 →

3 ancillary-service products in Germany/Luxembourg electricity market, grouped into 3 families. Each row runs left to right through one product's life: how it activates, how quickly it has to respond, how long it has to keep delivering, and how it is bought.
Service How it activates Response Sustained delivery Procurement
Frequency containment
Frequency Containment Reserve FCRprimary frequency controlprimary reserve symmetric or separate upward/downward according to synchronous area and national procurement operational Response type automatic, local-frequency-proportional, pre-fault and post-fault containment Trigger continuous response to local frequency deviation; exact deadband and droop are national/synchronous-area technical parameters Full activation 30 s Bought national or regional capacity procurement, commonly day-ahead How it settles capacity remuneration or mandatory provision depending on national implementation; energy/imbalance treatment is national Pricing design national/regional rules Counted as national or regional procurement, which the operator does not publish as a figure
Full record for Frequency Containment Reserve — page or table locator recorded
What it is for

Contain frequency deviations before frequency-restoration processes take over.

Where it sits

national/regional FCR implementation

Where it applies

Bidding zone: DE-LU

Published checkpoints

Full activation requirement: 30 s · Response checkpoint: 15 s (50% of response) · Response checkpoint: 30 s (100% of response)

Who can provide it

prequalified generation, storage or demand resources meeting synchronous-area and national TSO requirements

Notes from the source

Thirty seconds is the Continental Europe full-activation time, not a universal Europe-wide value.

Continental Europe requirement for a frequency deviation of at least 200 mHz; do not apply to Nordic FCR products

Status of this product

Operational in 2025

Checkpoint recap

Full activation 30 s

What the source does not state

The source states the full-activation requirement. 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
Automatic frequency restoration
automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve aFRRsecondary controlsecondary reserve separate upward and downward operational in participating markets; rollout continued Response type automatic central activation, normally via AGC/set-point signal; continuously activatable standard product Trigger activated from TSO control-area needs rather than a single public frequency threshold Full activation 5 min Bought balancing capacity remains nationally procured; balancing energy is activated through national systems and PICASSO where connected How it settles separate capacity and activated-energy settlement where capacity is procured; imbalance effects remain under national terms Smallest bid 1 MW Pricing design capacity pricing is national; common merit-order activation and marginal pricing apply through PICASSO subject to implementation rules Counted as national capacity procurement
Full record for automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve — page or table locator recorded
What it is for

Restore frequency and area-control error and release FCR after an imbalance.

Where it sits

national aFRR capacity and European balancing energy

Where it applies

Bidding zone: DE-LU

Bought in blocks of

15 min

Published checkpoints

Standard product, full activation: 5 min

Who can provide it

prequalified balancing service providers; aggregation rules are national

Notes from the source

A common balancing-energy product does not imply common national capacity procurement, qualification or settlement.

EU standard-product full activation time; before 18 December 2025 national products and transition rules still apply and have to be checked market by market

Status of this product

Operational in 2025

Checkpoint recap

Full activation 5 min

What the source does not state

The source states the full-activation requirement. 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
Manual frequency restoration
manual Frequency Restoration Reserve mFRRtertiary reservemanual restoration reserve separate upward and downward operational in national markets; MARI integration continued Response type scheduled or direct manual/automated-dispatch activation of a balancing-energy bid Trigger TSO activation based on imbalance, reserve need and common merit order; not a single frequency threshold Full activation 750 s maximum full activation time for the EU standard product; legacy national products may differ Minimum obligation at least 5 min Bought national balancing-capacity procurement; balancing-energy activation through national arrangements and MARI where connected How it settles capacity plus activated energy where capacity is procured; energy-only bids may also participate under national terms Smallest bid 1 MW Pricing design national capacity rules and common-platform energy pricing under the implementation framework Counted as national capacity procurement
Full record for manual Frequency Restoration Reserve — page or table locator recorded
What it is for

Restore system balance manually or by automated dispatch after faster reserves and release aFRR/FCR.

Where it sits

national mFRR capacity and European balancing energy

Where it applies

Bidding zone: DE-LU

Bought in blocks of

15 min

Published checkpoints

Standard product, maximum full activation: 750 s

Who can provide it

prequalified balancing service providers; aggregation and telemetry requirements are national

Notes from the source

The 12.5-minute value is a standard-product maximum full-activation time; legacy national tertiary products may use different labels or timings.

Status of this product

Operational in 2025

Checkpoint recap

Full activation 750 s · Minimum sustained 5 min

What the source does not state

The source states the full-activation requirement and a minimum delivery period. It does not state a maximum duration, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which.

Sources
Getting paid to exist

Does Germany/Luxembourg electricity market have a capacity mechanism?

Germany/Luxembourg electricity market has 2 capacity/adequacy arrangements: German Capacity Reserve and German Network Reserve. The official sources do not say whether each is a central capacity market.

German Capacity Reserve

operational; 2024-2026 service period had 1,205 MW contracted; next tender deadline moved during 2025 and did not produce a 2025 result

Selected resources remain outside regular energy markets and are activated only for exceptional system-balance shortages after normal market and balancing resources.

periodic competitive tender organized by the German TSOs under Bundesnetzagentur rules

Unit of obligation
maintain contracted availability and activate when instructed
Auction held in 2025
No — No capacity auction for this market was found to have been held during 2025 in the sources reviewed.

The Network Reserve addresses grid congestion and redispatch, not nationwide adequacy; Germany had no conventional market-wide Capacity Market in 2025.

contracted availability remuneration under tender rules

German Network Reserve

operational; Bundesnetzagentur confirmed 6,493 MW requirement for winter 2025/26

Power plants retained for congestion management and secure network operation, including units prevented from final closure.

regulated network-reserve determination and contracting, not a market-wide capacity auction

Unit of obligation
availability for redispatch/network-security instructions
Auction held in 2025
No — No capacity auction for this market was found to have been held during 2025 in the sources reviewed.

Not an adequacy Capacity Market and not the German Capacity Reserve.

regulated cost reimbursement/contract terms

Revenue routes

Merchant revenue routes

  • energy
  • FCR
  • aFRR
  • mFRR
  • capacity-reserve contract if selected
Where this comes from

Official sources

Rules

Service specification

Market explainer

Methodology

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.

Questions

Common questions about Germany/Luxembourg electricity market

Who operates Germany/Luxembourg electricity market?
Germany/Luxembourg electricity market covers Germany and Luxembourg and is operated by 50Hertz, Amprion, TenneT Germany, TransnetBW and EPEX SPOT.
Was a qualifying capacity event held in Germany/Luxembourg electricity market in 2025?
No. German Capacity Reserve: no qualifying 2025 event is recorded. No capacity auction for this market was found to have been held during 2025 in the sources reviewed. German Network Reserve: no qualifying 2025 event is recorded. No capacity auction for this market was found to have been held during 2025 in the sources reviewed.
How is energy traded, priced and settled in Germany/Luxembourg electricity market?
Germany/Luxembourg electricity market: EU-coupled zonal market with common German balancing tenders on Regelleistung.net. Dispatch — self-dispatch; four TSOs jointly procure balancing reserves.
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