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 cards below, as the official sources state them.

Facts below are stated as the official sources state them. A missing line means the source does not state that value — never that the value is zero.

Frequency containment

  • Frequency Containment Reserve

    operational

    Contain frequency deviations before frequency-restoration processes take over.

    Direction
    symmetric or separate upward/downward according to synchronous area and national procurement
    Full activation
    30 s
    Trigger / range
    continuous response to local frequency deviation; exact deadband and droop are national/synchronous-area technical parameters
    Eligibility
    prequalified generation, storage or demand resources meeting synchronous-area and national TSO requirements
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    national/regional rules

    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

Automatic frequency restoration

  • automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve

    operational in participating markets; rollout continued

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

    Direction
    separate upward and downward
    Full activation
    5 min
    Trigger / range
    activated from TSO control-area needs rather than a single public frequency threshold
    Eligibility
    prequalified balancing service providers; aggregation rules are national
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    capacity pricing is national; common merit-order activation and marginal pricing apply through PICASSO subject to implementation rules

    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

Manual frequency restoration

  • manual Frequency Restoration Reserve

    operational in national markets; MARI integration continued

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

    Direction
    separate upward and downward
    Full activation
    750 s
    Sustain
    at least 5 min
    Trigger / range
    TSO activation based on imbalance, reserve need and common merit order; not a single frequency threshold
    Eligibility
    prequalified balancing service providers; aggregation and telemetry requirements are national
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    national capacity rules and common-platform energy pricing under the implementation framework

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

    maximum full activation time for the EU standard product; legacy national products may differ

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). 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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