IN Brief:
- ELES has joined PICASSO, the European platform for automatic frequency restoration reserve exchange.
- The platform supports cross-border balancing energy exchange between participating transmission system operators.
- Slovenia’s participation strengthens integration between national balancing arrangements and European system-operation tools.
ELES has joined PICASSO, the European platform for the cross-border exchange of balancing energy from automatic frequency restoration reserves.
PICASSO, the Platform for the International Coordination of Automated Frequency Restoration and Stable System Operation, enables transmission system operators to optimise balancing energy exchange across participating control areas.
Automatic frequency restoration reserve is used after initial frequency containment action. It helps restore system frequency towards 50Hz and return control areas to scheduled exchange positions after imbalances occur. In an interconnected system, the ability to coordinate this service across borders can improve reserve utilisation and reduce reliance on purely national balancing pools.
Through PICASSO, ELES gains access to balancing energy from providers in other participating countries, while Slovenian resources can participate through the platform where technical and market requirements are met. The move deepens Slovenia’s operational integration within European balancing arrangements.
Slovenia leases frequency containment reserve and automatic frequency restoration reserve capacity as part of its system balancing processes. Battery storage, industrial demand, hydro, and flexible generation can all contribute to balancing if they meet product, metering, control, and prequalification requirements.
The development forms part of a wider digitalisation of system operation. Flexibility access for metered assets, smart secure electricity systems, and automated reserve platforms are all shaping a power system in which dispatch, measurement, control, and settlement are increasingly software-defined.
Balancing platforms such as PICASSO move system operation away from isolated national procurement and towards coordinated European optimisation. That shift requires harmonised products, dependable communications, secure data exchange, aligned settlement processes, and robust control systems that preserve local security while allowing cross-border activation.
The technical layer is demanding because frequency restoration depends on rapid activation, accurate measurement, and predictable response. Cross-border exchange adds further complexity, as available capacity, network constraints, and reserve activation must be coordinated across multiple control areas without increasing operational risk.
As renewable output rises, imbalances become more variable and more closely linked to weather conditions. Conventional balancing assets retain an important role, but the system increasingly values fast, controllable resources and automated platforms that can optimise activation across larger geographic areas.
Slovenia’s power system is relatively small compared with larger European markets, making regional balancing access particularly useful for liquidity and resilience. Wider participation can improve the efficiency of reserve use, provided the physical network and market systems can support the required flows.
Asset readiness will determine how much value can be drawn from platform membership. Batteries, demand-side response, industrial loads, hydro plants, and flexible generation all need technical capability and commercial incentives to participate. PICASSO provides a route into cross-border balancing; the connected asset base determines the depth of the market.
European power-system operation is becoming more integrated at the same time as local constraints become more important. Slovenia’s entry into PICASSO reflects that dual movement: wider optimisation across borders, and more precise digital control of the assets balancing the system in real time.