BBCM (Baltic Balancing Capacity Market)

BBCM is the joint day-ahead capacity-procurement platform run by the three Baltic TSOs (Elering, AST, Litgrid). It went live on 4 February 2025 with FCR and mFRR; aFRR was added on 15 April 2025 once Estonia joined PICASSO. Each morning it co-optimises FCR, aFRR and mFRR procurement for next-day delivery — per Elering's reserve-markets Q&A, the Baltic LFC block currently procures 23 MW of FCR per hour, roughly 90–120 MW of aFRR, and 720–860 MW upward / 490–700 MW downward of mFRR. BBCM procures capacity; the energy is activated cross-border through MARI (mFRR) and PICASSO (aFRR).

BBCM (Baltic Balancing Capacity Market) is the joint day-ahead capacity-procurement platform operated by Elering (Estonia), AST (Latvia) and Litgrid (Lithuania). Each morning it runs a co-optimised auction across all three reserve products — FCR, aFRR and mFRR — for delivery the next day. BBCM went live on 4 February 2025, days ahead of the Baltic synchronisation with Continental Europe.

Capacity, not energy

BBCM is procurement, not activation. It buys the right to call on a reserve, paid as a daily availability fee. The actual energy delivered when reserves are activated is settled separately through the cross-border energy platforms: MARI for mFRR energy, PICASSO for aFRR energy. A BSP typically earns BBCM capacity revenue every day it is available plus an additional energy revenue on the days it is actually activated.

Launch and aFRR addition

BBCM went live on 4 February 2025 with FCR and mFRR. aFRR capacity was deliberately excluded at launch because Estonia's connection to PICASSO had been delayed beyond the synchronisation deadline; aFRR procurement was added on 15 April 2025, six days after Elering joined PICASSO. Per Elering's reserve-markets Q&A (20.05.2025), the Baltic LFC block procures 23 MW of FCR per hour in 2025, with mFRR demand of roughly 720–860 MW upward and 490–700 MW downward and aFRR demand of roughly 90–120 MW each hour.

How a BSP participates

Bids are submitted to the platform every morning before the day-ahead gate closes. Minimum bid size is 1 MW per product per direction; bids below that are aggregated through an aggregator before submission. Co-optimisation means a single 1 MW bid can be allocated to whichever product (FCR / aFRR / mFRR) clears most efficiently across the three Baltic zones, so a BSP need not pre-decide which product to offer. Prequalification on each product is the precondition for participation.

Sources

Elering: Energy and capacity market for balancing services · BBCM Evaluation Report 2025 · BBCM Procurement Optimisation Function (Jan 2025)

Usein kysyttyä

What is BBCM?

BBCM (Baltic Balancing Capacity Market) is the joint day-ahead capacity-procurement platform run by the three Baltic TSOs — Elering (Estonia), AST (Latvia) and Litgrid (Lithuania). It went live on 4 February 2025 with FCR and mFRR; aFRR was added on 15 April 2025 once Estonia joined PICASSO. Each morning it co-optimises FCR, aFRR and mFRR capacity procurement for next-day delivery for the whole Baltic LFC block.

What's the difference between BBCM and MARI / PICASSO?

BBCM procures balancing capacity — the right to call on a BSP — paid as €/MW availability fee. MARI and PICASSO clear balancing energy — the actual MWh delivered when activation happens — paid as €/MWh activation fee. A BSP earns both: capacity for being available and energy for actually delivering when the TSO calls. BBCM clears once a day before delivery; MARI/PICASSO clear every 15 minutes / 4 seconds during delivery.

Who can bid into BBCM?

Any BSP certified by one of the three Baltic TSOs for the relevant product (FCR, aFRR or mFRR). The minimum bid size is 1 MW per product. Bids are submitted through each TSO's portal; the optimisation runs across all three Baltic countries simultaneously, respecting cross-border capacity. Estonian BSPs can win Latvian or Lithuanian capacity demand, and vice versa.

How big is the BBCM market?

Per Elering's reserve-markets Q&A (20.05.2025): 23 MW of FCR per hour for the whole Baltic block; aFRR demand of roughly 90–120 MW per hour; mFRR demand of roughly 720–860 MW upward and 490–700 MW downward per hour. Eleringi analysis estimates Baltic-wide procurement cost of €40–100 million per year across the three TSOs. BBCM is a substantial revenue stream for grid-scale battery operators in Estonia.