balansemarked

Balansemarked is a market in the electricity system used to procure balancing energy to maintain the balance between forecasted and actual production and consumption. It operates alongside day-ahead and intraday markets and is typically managed by the Transmission System Operator (TSO). The purpose is to ensure frequency stability and a secure power supply by correcting deviations that arise after market clearing.

In practice, when actual generation or consumption differs from the scheduled volumes, the TSO issues balancing instructions. Market participants with balancing responsibility, such as balancing service providers, power producers, and large consumers, can offer to adjust output or load. These offers create balancing energy bids for up-regulation (increasing supply or reducing demand) and down-regulation (reducing supply or increasing demand). Balancing energy is activated as needed to restore balance, and prices are set by the marginal unit required to achieve balance, resulting in a balancing price. The resulting imbalance is settled through a balancing settlement that charges or pays participants according to their deviations and offers.

Participants include producers, retailers, large consumers, and specialized providers who can adjust generation or load on short notice. The TSO coordinates and dispatches resources, while regulators oversee fairness, safety, and reliability under national and EU rules. The balancing market interacts with the day-ahead and intraday markets, forming a three-tier framework for electricity trading in many European systems, including Norway.

In Norway, the balancing market is operated under the supervision of the national regulatory framework, with Statnett acting as the Transmission System Operator responsible for balancing signals and settlement.