Nordic TSOs to cap static FCR-D Up procurement at 50% of requirement from 29 September 2026

Energinet announced that the Nordic TSOs (Energinet, Fingrid, Statnett and Svenska kraftnät) will implement a limitation on procurement of static FCR-D Up starting 29 September 2026, with first delivery day 30 September 2026. In the first phase a fixed limitation applies under which static resources may account for no more than 50% of the total Nordic FCR-D Up requirement, with maximum static volumes of 55 MW (Statnett), 315 MW (Svenska kraftnät), 308 MW (Fingrid) and 47 MW (Energinet). These values will be evaluated and may be adjusted quarterly. At a later stage the limitation will be supplemented by a variable component depending on system inertia level, currently expected in 2028.

The cap changes bid selection in the Nordic FCR-D Up market without changing price formation: static and dynamic bids continue to compete in the same market and accepted bids are settled at the same marginal price, but static bids may be skipped even when priced below the clearing price once the static quota is exhausted. Providers of static FCR-D resources therefore face a new volume-based acceptance risk that is not reflected in the price signal.

This is a quantity-constrained product differentiation within a single clearing: rather than splitting FCR-D Up into separate static and dynamic products with separate prices, the Nordic TSOs retain a uniform marginal price and impose a technology/response-type quota on the accepted volume. The design keeps liquidity pooled and avoids price fragmentation, but introduces skipped-bid outcomes where a lower-priced static bid is rejected in favour of a higher-priced dynamic bid — a divergence between merit order and dispatch that static providers must internalise in their bidding and investment expectations. Energinet frames the measure as safeguarding operational requirements and frequency stability of the Nordic synchronous area, reflecting the reduced effectiveness of static (step-response) reserves at low inertia. The immediate DK2 impact is described as very limited given the 47 MW Energinet allowance, but Energinet expects more significant consequences once the inertia-dependent variable component is introduced, currently expected in 2028 — meaning the economically material design change is the second phase, not the September 2026 start. The quarterly review of the volumes creates a recurring parameter-setting process that participants will need to track. No concrete details or timelines exist yet for an equivalent limitation on static FCR-D Down, leaving that part of the design open.

Nordic TSO implementation plan for volume-limited static FCR-D upward regulation (not further specified in source)

Implementation of the static FCR-D Up procurement limitation on 29 September 2026, with first delivery day 30 September 2026 · 29 Sept 2026

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