Ancillary Services

In order to ensure the reliable operation of the power system, the IESO contracts for a number of ancillary services. These include the Emergency Demand Response Program (EDRP), black-start capability, regulation service as well as reactive support and voltage control. The IESO also has one reliability must-run contract.

The IESO is committed to a fair a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process to award these contracts. RFPs can be issued at any point in the year depending on the expiration date of current contracts as well as the type of ancillary service. To ensure you are added to upcoming RFP mailing lists or for more details, please send an email to rfp.info@ieso.ca.

In 2006, the IESO board will consider a proposal that would permit the IESO to extend the possible term of contracts from 18 months to 36 months. These longer term contracts are expected to allow for a greater pool of potential participants to provide ancillary services because it will reduce the up-front costs associated with the contracts. Progress on this initiative (MR-00325) is available here.

Certified Black Start Facilities help system reliability by being able to restart their generation facility with no outside source of power. In the event of a system-wide blackout, a black start facility would help to re-energize other portions of the power system.

Regulation Service represents the ability of a generator to control its generation output on a second-by-second basis so that the IESO can adjust any imbalances between load and generation by using the generator’s automatic generation control (AGC) capacity.

EDRP participants contract with the IESO to reduce load on short notice during an Emergency Operating State, just prior to power outages in order to maintain reliability of the grid.

Reactive Support and Voltage Control Service is a service provided by generators that allow the IESO to maintain consistent reactive power and voltage levels on the grid.

Reliability Must-Run (RMR) Contracts are negotiated with a generating facility that gives the IESO the power to direct that facility to generate power to maintain system reliability.

Current EDRP contracts last until April 30, 2007. The ongoing need for the EDRP will be reviewed by the IESO Board.

Market participants are entitled to reimbursement from the IESO for costs incurred to provide reactive support and voltage control service in response to direction from the IESO control room. Participants who can provide this service are invited at any time to enter into future contracts with the IESO.

The IESO issued an RFP for black start service in the Sarnia/Windsor area in August 2006 and will take further action to replace existing black start contracts that expire later in 2006.

The IESO has negotiated a new RMR contract for Lennox. This contract is currently under review with the Ontario Energy Board.

Ancillary Service Contracts are procured consistent with Chapter 7 section 9 of the market rules that are available at: http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/pubs/marketRules/mr_chapter7.pdf.

Information on previous contracts is found at: http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/marketdata/AncilSrvContracts.asp