Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM)

Russian Federation — WECM price zones. Status: operational.

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 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 →

4 ancillary-service products in Russia Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market (WECM), grouped into 4 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
Standardized primary frequency regulation capability Нормированное первичное регулирование частоты (НПРЧ) symmetric capability competitively selected system-reliability service Response type automatic local frequency response Trigger technical requirements set by the System Operator; no numeric trigger is normalized from the cited market overview No deadline established product-specific technical selection documents; not stated in the market overview As stated selected units and service periods Bought competitive selections for stated service periods Pricing design selection and contract terms
Full record for Standardized primary frequency regulation capability — a topic in the document is named, but not a page or table
What it is for

Maintain generating-unit capability for standardized primary frequency response in the Unified Energy System.

What the source does not state

The source states a procurement volume in its own words. It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained.

Sources
Automatic frequency restoration
Automatic secondary frequency and active-power-flow regulation capability Автоматическое вторичное регулирование частоты и перетоков активной мощности (АВРЧМ) upward and downward capability competitively selected system-reliability service for eligible thermal units Response type automatic central control signal Trigger system control signal; no numeric trigger is normalized from the cited overview No deadline established selection-specific technical requirements; not stated in the market overview As stated selected generating units Bought competitive selections for stated service periods Pricing design selection and contract terms
Full record for Automatic secondary frequency and active-power-flow regulation capability — a topic in the document is named, but not a page or table
What it is for

Enable automatic secondary control of system frequency and scheduled active-power transfers.

What the source does not state

The source states a procurement volume in its own words. It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained.

Sources
Reactive power & voltage
Reactive-power regulation without active-power production Регулирование реактивной мощности без производства активной мощности reactive injection or absorption according to dispatch need competitively selected system-reliability service Response type System Operator instruction Trigger voltage or reactive-power need under technical selection requirements No deadline established selection-specific; not stated in the market overview As stated selected equipment Bought competitive selection and long-term service contract Pricing design selection and contract terms
Full record for Reactive-power regulation without active-power production — a topic in the document is named, but not a page or table
What it is for

Provide reactive-power and voltage-control capability using generating equipment not producing active power.

What the source does not state

The source states a procurement volume in its own words. It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained.

Sources
Emergency control
Emergency-control automation capability Эксплуатация элементов систем противоаварийного управления event-dependent system-reliability service category Response type automatic emergency-control action Trigger configured contingency and network-security logic No deadline established scheme-specific; no generic response deadline is stated in the cited source As stated automation capability is not a homogeneous MW reserve product Bought System Operator selection and contract Pricing design contract terms
Full record for Emergency-control automation capability — a topic in the document is named, but not a page or table
What it is for

Operate emergency-control automation that increases secure transfer capability in controlled transmission sections.

What the source does not state

The source states a procurement volume in its own words. It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained.

Sources
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.
Revenue routes

Merchant revenue routes

  • day-ahead energy
  • balancing energy
  • capacity
  • system services
  • demand response
Where this comes from

Official sources

Service specification

Capacity-mechanism explainer

Capacity result

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 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.
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