Redispatch market: a guide for businesses
Direct answer
Redispatch is the targeted adjustment of generation and consumption to relieve a congested part of the grid without disturbing the national balance. In the bottleneck area output is turned down, while elsewhere it is turned up by the same amount, so national supply and demand stay equal. The grid operator buys this shift from businesses with flexibility, in the Netherlands via GOPACS.
- Clear definition
- Data-driven assessment
- Risks and opportunities visible
- Practical next steps
Redispatch market: scattered information versus Energy Intelligence
Parts of the Dutch electricity grid become overloaded at peak moments, while grid reinforcement takes years. To relieve a congested part of the grid in the short term, operators adjust usage. Think of a cold store turning its machines down for a while, or a factory postponing a process. That adjustment is called redispatch. It matters to businesses with a large connection in a congestion area, especially those able to be flexible with consumption, generation or a battery.
- Redispatch lowers consumption or generation in a congested area and raises it elsewhere, so the national balance stays equal and the bottleneck disappears.
- Grid operators buy this flexibility on the same day via GOPACS, the joint congestion platform of the Dutch grid operators, including TenneT.
- Businesses submit a bid stating how much capacity they can temporarily shift; if accepted they receive a fee, but it runs through a mandatory Congestion Service Provider.
Insight
Traditional approach
Information is scattered across portals, documents, invoices or separate spreadsheets.
Modern approach
Data, context and interpretation are brought together into a clear decision picture.
Decision-making
Traditional approach
Choices are made based on averages, assumptions or occasional analyses.
Modern approach
Scenarios, KPIs and current measurement data make the trade-off more concrete and repeatable.
Follow-up
Traditional approach
Actions often stay non-committal or disappear into separate reports.
Modern approach
Follow-up actions, monitoring and reporting are linked to the same energy data.
How does redispatch work?
The grid operator monitors the grid throughout the day. If a part of the grid threatens to become overloaded, consumption or generation there is temporarily reduced: turning down in the bottleneck area. To keep national supply and demand equal, exactly the same amount is turned up somewhere else. The bottleneck disappears and the national balance stays intact. The grid operator does not do this itself, but buys the shift from market parties. In the Netherlands this runs via GOPACS, the joint platform of the grid operators. GOPACS matches the bids on the basis of current grid data and picks the most efficient deployment, without causing a new bottleneck elsewhere.
- In the congested area output is turned down, and turned up elsewhere at the same time.
- The national balance between supply and demand therefore stays equal.
- The grid operator buys the shift from market parties, rather than doing it itself.
- GOPACS matches the bids and prevents new bottlenecks elsewhere.
How is it different from the ordinary market?
On the ordinary energy market you trade on price: you buy or sell power because it is financially favourable, regardless of where on the grid that lands. The redispatch market is about location instead. A grid operator asks for flexibility at a specific place and moment, because the grid there threatens to fill up. A market message states in which area and when flexibility is needed. Redispatch is an intraday instrument: it resolves a bottleneck on the same day. So it is not ordinary trading, but a targeted purchase of a shift to keep the grid safe. The fee is the incentive for that, not the goal in itself.
- The ordinary market is about price, redispatch is about place on the grid.
- The request is location-bound: a specific area and time window.
- Redispatch is intraday: the bottleneck is resolved on the same day.
- The grid operator requests the flexibility through a market message on GOPACS.
Why do businesses with flexibility take part?
Businesses offer room on the grid and receive a fee if the grid operator accepts their bid. You are suitable if you are flexible in your processes: a cold store that eases off its cooling for a while, a factory that postpones a production step, or a business with a battery. Taking part runs through a Congestion Service Provider, because action often has to be taken within a few hours. You register as a provider yourself or join an existing one. Note the limits: redispatch resolves peaks, not a structural shortage of grid capacity. If you have more than 1 megawatt of contracted transport capacity, you can moreover be obliged to help when a part of the grid runs into trouble.
- You offer flexible consumption or generation and receive a fee on acceptance.
- Suitable are processes that can be shifted briefly, or a battery.
- Taking part runs through a mandatory Congestion Service Provider.
- Redispatch relieves peaks, not a structural lack of grid capacity.
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