Since becoming a balance responsible party (BRP) for flexible assets in 2012, Danske Commodities has steadily grown its flexibility business. A milestone was reached in 2024, with the portfolio now including more than 100 CHPs in Denmark.  

Access to wholesale electricity markets  

As balance responsible party, we connect energy producers and large-scale consumers to wholesale electricity markets.  

One of our most important responsibilities is to provide access to all relevant markets. This is how we help create value for customers – and 2024 was no exception. In October, the Danish TSO Energinet started buying its activated Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserves (aFRR) according to the European standard for ancillary services, called Picasso. 

 We began preparing for this change in the spring, which meant that Danske Commodities was one of the first balance responsible parties active in aFRR services, allowing us to create good value for our customers. Adding aFRR services complement our existing offerings, including manual Frequency Restoration Reserves (mFRR), has made Danske Commodities well-positioned to capture value from flexibility, which also benefits the energy transition.  

Flexibility is crucial to the energy transition  

A report from the EU’s energy regulatory authority ACER concludes that flexibility in the European energy system must double by 2030 to keep up with the growth of renewable energy ("Flexibility solutions to support a decarbonised and secure EU electricity system”). 
 
Flexible energy production and batteries will play an even more important role in ensuring energy security as we increase the share of renewable energy. To succeed, we must make sure that dispatchable assets like CHPs can participate in energy markets from the day-ahead market to the intraday market as well as the balancing market. This creates value for both consumers and CHPs. 

Next up: expansion to new markets  

After years of developing proprietary systems and investing in our setup, Danske Commodities is now ready to expand the flexibility business model to new markets. Besides our market-leading position in Denmark, we are expanding and adding market shares in Sweden, Norway, the UK and Poland.  

By the end of 2024, Danske Commodities has more than 2 GW of flexible assets under management and provides market access to day-ahead, intraday and all balancing markets, including mFRR, aFRR and FCR.