All about mFRR

mFRR is the manual Frequency Restoration Reserve that helps to stabilize the frequency of the electricity grid. In most countries the TSO (Transmission System Operator) is responsible for its procurement and activation. The mFRR (also R3 or tertiary reserve) helps to restore the required grid frequency of 50 Hz (or in some countries of 60 Hz). This tertiary control reserve intervenes when there are longer lasting deviations in the power grid that cannot be resolved solely by the other upstream balancing services (FCR or aFRR). 

mFRR must be, according to the guidelines proposed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators of TSO in Europe (ENTSO-E), fully deployable after 12.5 minutes and has a minimum duration period of 5 minutes. Different auctions determine which Balancing Service Provider (BSP) holds back capacities and/or delivers the reserve in case of imbalances for each quarter hour.

Balancing Services are reactive short-term means to level out frequency deviations in the power grid. Balancing Services (sometimes also called control reserve) is one out of many ancillary services that system operators have to provide a secure power supply. Balancing Services include Balancing Energy and Balancing Capacity . Balancing Energy means the energy which is used by system operators to perform the maintenance of the frequency and Balancing Capacity refers to a flexible capacity which the provider has agreed to keep available for a certain period in order to provide balancing energy. [1]

How the mixed-pricing system turns the security of the electricity grid into a speculative mass: On the sixth, 12th and 25th of June 2019, market distortions occurred in Germany; some of which had severe effects on the electricity grid.