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Peaking power plants, also called dispatchables, produce energy designed to help balance fluctuating energy conditions in the power grid.
“Peak” activity
A power plant in “Peak” or “Dispatchable” mode only produces electricity. It is therefore not comparable to cogeneration activity given the absence of simultaneous heat production.
Nevertheless, the “Pointe” makes it possible to respond to the problem of energy efficiency, by providing a gradient of flexibility to the French fleet taking into account the multiplicity of its small installations (regularly less than 8 MW) whose main attraction is their its capacity for adjustment. Indeed, the electricity market is marked by sudden peaks in domestic demand at certain times of the day or certain periods of the year.
Peaking plants, unlike cogeneration plants, operate in winter (from November 1 to March 31) as well as in summer (from April 1 to October 31).
For its part, COMAX France currently has a fleet of 11 peak power plants , which overall represent an installed capacity of 81 MW .
Domestic electricity demand
Domestic electricity demand varies greatly over the course of a year, depending in particular on the seasons and the climate, but also during the same day, depending on the time of day.
Two large families contribute to meeting energy needs:
- The production of basic electrical energy represented by hydroelectric, nuclear, photovoltaic and other wind turbines.
- The production of semi-base and peak electrical energy represented by the cogeneration and “dispatchable” sectors.
- The response to domestic electrical demand results from the stacking of the aforementioned means of production.
Contractual conditions
As part of peaking contracts, EDF undertakes to purchase the electricity produced by peaking power plants during the calls it makes. In return, the producer undertakes to provide a Winter Guaranteed Power (PGH) and a Summer Guaranteed Power (PGE) expressed in kW.
The level of Guaranteed Power is defined by annual contractual periods. The call times, call end times and call duration are made available to the producer by the buyer according to the following deadlines:
- During the winter period, the minimum notice (minimum time between the time the call data/production stoppage is made available and the call time) is 10 minutes.
- During the summer period, the minimum notice is 8 hours.
It is contractually fixed that any call must have a minimum duration of one hour for a maximum duration of 18 consecutive hours. For each annual contractual period, the maximum call duration per installation cannot exceed 500 hours.
