Supporting VLP success
Wider access to the BM promotes competition and provides the Electricity National Control Centre (ENCC) with greater access to flexibility. Wider Access will lower cost to consumers, improve quality of service and contribute towards zero carbon operation of Great Britain’s electricity system by 2025.
The implementation of Wider Access by National Grid ESO in December 2019 saw the beginning of Virtual Lead Party (VLP) operations. While VLPs are exempt from some of the requirements imposed on other BSC Party Roles, they are required to submit PNs, MEL and Bid Offer Data via EDT and establish EDL systems for the communication of BOAs and post gate closure Dynamic Data submissions. In addition, due to their unique relationship with suppliers, they must calculate and submit Delivered Volumes at MSID Pair level, a requirement that is supported by Sentinel’s Elexon SVAA module.
Why is Delivered Volume data needed?
A VLP is a non-Trading Party operating Secondary BM Units for the provision of Balancing Services to the National Grid ESO via BM (and RR) actions. A Secondary BM Unit is a GSP Group specific collection of SMRS registered customer meters, not restricted to a single Supplier.
In the event that a Secondary BM Unit is instructed to vary its energy consumption or generation there will be an effect on the imbalance position of each of the Suppliers. As there could be many such Units across many VLPs affecting a Supplier there is a need to determine the net effect of all these Units so that adjustment can be made to the Supplier’s Energy Account Imbalance position to ensure it is not disadvantaged.
This adjustment is calculated by the SVAA and a key input to this is the Delivered Volume; the amount of energy delivered in response to a Balancing Services Instruction. Responsibility for submitting the Delivered Volume at an MSID Pair level to the SVAA falls to the VLP.
Delivered Volumes must be submitted within 1 working day of the relevant Settlement Date in the SVAA P0282 flow, to which the SVAA may respond with a Rejection (P0283), Confirmation (P0284) or Exception Report (P0285). The Secondary BM Unit Delivered Volumes position is reported back to the VLP by the SVAA via the P0288 flow.