Roundabout: Reducing complexity in DS3 Procurement

The DS3 Fixed Contracts Procurement Arrangements Decision Paper, otherwise known as the long-awaited DS3 paper, was released by the SEM Committee last week. The document outlines the framework for how the procurement of DS3 services will be carried out, and how the assessment of bids will be conducted.

There are several key decisions in the paper that will provide some clarity for those looking to provide five of the DS3 system services. Namely the Fast Frequency Response (FFR), Primary Operating Reserve (POR), Secondary Operating Reserve (SOR), Tertiary Operating Reserve 1 (TOR1) and Tertiary Operating Reserve 2 (TOR2).

This week’s blog looks at how the paper has made business cases more stable through simplification in the multipliers (scalars) that make up the payment calculation to service providers. These multipliers have been set for four values across all the services, a change from the sliding scales originally proposed for the bid assessment and final remuneration of service providers. 

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