Wholesale design: Competitive day-ahead market, balancing market and capacity market in the price zones; non-price zones use regulated arrangements rather than competitive pricing.
Market type
National market
Operators
System Operator of the Unified Energy System · ATS · Market Council
Dispatch model
Day-ahead competitive selection of price bids followed by repeatedly updated real-time balancing selections subject to reliability constraints.
Pricing granularity
hourly day-ahead and balancing prices
Settlement interval
60 minutes
Nominal frequency
50 Hz
Where energy trades
Where does energy trade in Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM)?
Energy in Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM) trades in 5 layers: day-ahead, balancing, capacity, system services and demand response.
What a battery can sell
What ancillary services can a battery sell in Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM)?
Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM) has 4 ancillary-service products, across 4 families — frequency containment, automatic frequency restoration, reactive power & voltage and emergency control: Emergency-control automation capability, Standardized primary frequency regulation capability, Reactive-power regulation without active-power production, Automatic secondary frequency and active-power-flow regulation capability. 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
Standardized primary frequency regulation capability
competitively selected system-reliability service
Maintain generating-unit capability for standardized primary frequency response in the Unified Energy System.
Direction
symmetric capability
Stated response
product-specific technical selection documents; not stated in the market overview
Trigger / range
technical requirements set by the System Operator; no numeric trigger is normalized from the cited market overview
Typical procurement
selected units and service periods
Pricing
selection and contract terms
Automatic frequency restoration
Automatic secondary frequency and active-power-flow regulation capability
competitively selected system-reliability service for eligible thermal units
Enable automatic secondary control of system frequency and scheduled active-power transfers.
Direction
upward and downward capability
Stated response
selection-specific technical requirements; not stated in the market overview
Trigger / range
system control signal; no numeric trigger is normalized from the cited overview
Typical procurement
selected generating units
Pricing
selection and contract terms
Reactive power & voltage
Reactive-power regulation without active-power production
competitively selected system-reliability service
Provide reactive-power and voltage-control capability using generating equipment not producing active power.
Direction
reactive injection or absorption according to dispatch need
Stated response
selection-specific; not stated in the market overview
Trigger / range
voltage or reactive-power need under technical selection requirements
Typical procurement
selected equipment
Pricing
selection and contract terms
Emergency control
Emergency-control automation capability
system-reliability service category
Operate emergency-control automation that increases secure transfer capability in controlled transmission sections.
Direction
event-dependent
Stated response
scheme-specific; no generic response deadline is published
Trigger / range
configured contingency and network-security logic
Typical procurement
automation capability is not a homogeneous MW reserve product
Pricing
contract terms
Getting paid to exist
Does Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM) have a capacity mechanism?
Yes — WECM Competitive Capacity Selection (KOM) is a central capacity market. Responsibility sits with System Operator of the Unified Energy System.
WECM Competitive Capacity Selection (KOM)
operational in WECM price zones
Competitive selection of available generation capacity by price zone creates readiness obligations and medium-term capacity remuneration under the wholesale-market rules.
System Operator competitive capacity selection
price-zone clearing
Responsibility
System Operator of the Unified Energy System
Unit of obligation
MW available capacity by month
Auction held in 2025
Yes
()
— Price applications for the 2028 KOM were accepted from 10 to 14 February 2025.
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 Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM)
Who operates Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM)?
Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM) covers Russian Federation — WECM price zones and is operated by System Operator of the Unified Energy System, ATS and Market Council.
Was a qualifying capacity event held in Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM) in 2025?
Yes. WECM Competitive Capacity Selection (KOM): a qualifying 2025 event is recorded (2025-02-10). Price applications for the 2028 KOM were accepted from 10 to 14 February 2025.
How is energy traded, priced and settled in Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM)?
Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM): Competitive day-ahead market, balancing market and capacity market in the price zones; non-price zones use regulated arrangements rather than competitive pricing. dispatch — Day-ahead competitive selection of price bids followed by repeatedly updated real-time balancing selections subject to reliability constraints; pricing granularity — hourly day-ahead and balancing prices; settlement interval — 60 minutes.