OL3 nuke plant joins reserve market

As of 1 September, the Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear power plant unit of Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) will become part of the down-regulation market of Fingrid’s frequency restoration reserve, said TVO in a press release on Friday.

This reserve is used to balance the electricity system in case of temporary over-production of electricity.

The Olkiluoto nuclear power plant units have not previously been involved in the regulation market.

TVO will submit the bids for participation in the down-regulation market on behalf of its owners.

Fingrid uses different reserve capacities to continuously maintain a state of balance between electricity production and consumption.

The design of OL3 also allows the regulation of power output, which means production can be temporarily reduced, when necessary.

The electricity system in Finland faces on an increasingly frequent basis a situation where more down-regulating production capacity is needed because there is too much production compared with consumption and this solution will enable OL3 to support the electricity system better than before.

The share participating in the reserve markets is a small portion of the total production capacity of OL3.

The other plant units in Olkiluoto are not involved in the reserve market.

The participation in the reserve market will not affect normal electricity production at the Olkiluoto plant units.