Terms and conditions of participation and contract documents

Participation in the mechanism under Section 13k of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) requires successful pre-qualification. This involves a formal and substantive review of the pre-qualification documents submitted, as well as the establishment and testing of the interfaces required for data exchange.

Following successful pre-qualification, a framework agreement is concluded between the participant and the TSO. This agreement governs the allocation and use of curtailment electricity volumes, as well as the associated remuneration rates. From the first day of the following month, the pre-qualified curtailment facility may participate in the allocation procedure.

If the application is submitted by the first of the month, the TSO has the remainder of the month to review the documents and to set up and test the interfaces required for operational data exchange. Otherwise, the connecting TSO has the following calendar month to do so. The figure below illustrates the pre-qualification process.

To this end, participants must submit a pre-qualification application to the TSO:

• 50Hertz: 13k@50hertz.com
• TenneT: 13k@tennet.eu

In order to participate in the mechanism under Section 13k of the Energy Act (EnWG), at least the following conditions must be met or requirements observed:

• The plant must be assignable to one of the three segments defined in the BNetzA’s specification of the additionality criteria. Furthermore, the consumption targets set out therein, in particular regarding operational and investment additionality, must be observed (see Definition of Additionality Criteria 13k_EnWG).
• Each individual plant must have a minimum electrical capacity of 100 kW. Plants with a lower capacity may be aggregated into a plant pool within a load-relief region in order to achieve the required minimum capacity.
• Plants from all voltage levels (low voltage to extra-high voltage) may participate in the mechanism. For plants connected to a distribution network, a certificate from the connection network operator must be submitted to the control area TSO as part of the pre-qualification process (see contract documents)
• In accordance with Section 13k(6)(3) of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG), a separate supply point is required for the curtailed electricity volumes, from which no electricity is drawn to cover the consumption of other consumption facilities or electricity storage systems. In market communication terminology, this corresponds to a dedicated metering location (MeLo). Furthermore, separate balancing is required, which necessitates a dedicated market location (MaLo).

During the allocation of curtailment volumes, no simultaneous marketing of the plant for other purposes may take place, for example through the simultaneous provision of control power.

The contract documents comprise documents from four categories:

• Pre-qualification conditions for participants and connectable loads for the procedure pursuant to Section 13k of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) ‘Benefit instead of curtailment’
• Framework agreement on the allocation and use of electricity volumes under the provisions of Section 13k of the Energy Act (EnWG)
• Remuneration framework for the procedure pursuant to Section 13k of the Energy Act (EnWG) ‘Use rather than curtailment’
• Regulations for data exchange for the procedure pursuant to Section 13k of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) ‘Utilisation instead of curtailment’

The following diagram summarises the contents and interrelationships of the contract documents.

The contract documents and the accompanying annexes are available for download below.

You can find answers to frequently asked questions on our FAQ page. If you have any further questions, you can ask them using the TSO contact form at www.netztransparenz.de, specifying the topic "Use instead of curtail".