Amendment of the Market Ancillary Service Specification (MASS) – Very Fast FCAS

Timeline

Key contact

Email: Mass.consultation@aemo.com.au

Overview

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) conducted consultation on the Market Ancillary Service Specification (MASS) with regards to incorporation of very fast frequency control ancillary services (very fast FCAS).

This consultation was conducted in compliance with clause 3.11.2(d) of the National Electricity Rules (NER) which requires AEMO to “comply with the Rules consultation procedures when making or amending the market ancillary service specifications.”

Background (or Proposed changes)

On 15 July 2021, the AEMC published a Final Determination and a Final Rule to introduce two new market ancillary services by 19 December 2022. These new very fast raise and very fast lower frequency control ancillary services, collectively known as very fast FCAS will help to control power system frequency. 

As a result, AEMO conducted a review and consultation on proposed amendments to the market ancillary services specification (MASS) to include the new services. The MASS review focused on technical and measurement requirements for the two new FCAS markets.

The MASS amendments were published on 7 October 2022.

The new MASS (version 8.0) will come into effect from 9 October 2023 to coincide with the commencement of the Very Fast FCAS markets.

Reference Information for Second stage

In preparing the Draft Determination AEMO sought additional advice on metering from metering expert Michael Guy. This advice is published below.

Second stage forum

AEMO held a public forum on Tuesday 2 August 2022 to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to discuss and ask questions about the content included in the MASS Draft Determination.

A copy of the presentation slides presented in this session is available below.

Second stage submissions 

The following submissions were received by AEMO:  

Reference Information for First Stage

On the 7 June 2022 AEMO published an additional two documents to support stakeholder submissions during the first stage of consultation to the MASS Issues paper.

The first document, Very Fast FCAS Sampling Rate Analysis in Support of the Market Ancillary Services Specification (MASS) consultation report, is the result of a study AEMO commissioned the University of Melbourne (UoM) to undertake to determine the implied assessment error for Very Fast FCAS when data is captured at different measurement time resolutions (e.g., from 10ms to 200ms).

The second document Issues Paper Addendum 1 –Further studies with increased FCAS volumes, is an addendum to the MASS Issues paper published on 02 May 2022.

On 15 June 2022 AEMO published a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) document after reviewing some stakeholder queries seeking clarification on the proposed changes to the MASS.

First stage forum

AEMO held a public forum on Friday 13 May 2022 to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to discuss and ask questions about the content included in the MASS Issues paper.

A copy of the presentation slides presented in this session is available below.

Submissions 

The following submissions were received by AEMO: