TL;DR
Get backup power and energy gear delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator has proposed letting transmission-connected batteries provide regulation service while also participating in energy and operating reserve markets. The change is planned for 2028, subject to further design work and feedback due Oct. 30.
Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator has proposed allowing transmission-connected batteries to provide regulation service while also selling energy and operating reserve, a change it plans to introduce in 2028. The service helps balance electricity supply and demand from moment to moment, and the IESO says its planning outlook indicates that more regulation capability is needed throughout the year.
The proposal would make batteries registered as dispatchable single model storage resources eligible to provide regulation while taking part in the energy and operating reserve markets. Regulation is the rapid adjustment of output or consumption used to keep grid frequency close to 60 hertz. The IESO says generators equipped with automatic generation control currently provide the service.
To preserve a battery’s ability to respond both upward and downward, IESO scheduling tools would reserve energy in storage and room to charge around its regulation commitment. That reservation would cover one hour of scheduled regulation capacity in day-ahead and pre-dispatch scheduling, and 10 minutes in real-time operations.
Under the proposed process, batteries would submit regulation offers by 9 a.m. Eastern prevailing time ahead of the day-ahead market and receive hourly schedules by 10 a.m. Selection would be based on reliability. The IESO also proposes removing a current restriction that sets a resource’s operating reserve offers to zero in hours when it is scheduled for regulation. It would lift the 100-megawatt-per-minute ramp-rate limit for storage during those hours and introduce a monthly performance factor based on how closely a resource follows its regulation setpoints.
How Batteries Could Support Grid Balance
The proposal could give Ontario’s grid operator another source of fast, adjustable capacity as battery storage expands. Allowing a battery to offer regulation while also participating in energy and operating reserve markets could let it provide more than one service, although the proposal’s scheduling and state-of-charge rules would constrain how much capacity can be committed at once.
The design matters to battery developers and operators because market access and payment rules influence how storage projects can earn revenue and support reliability. The IESO has not yet finalized settlement, make-whole payment or market power mitigation designs. Those details will shape the commercial terms of participation, so the proposal does not by itself establish what a battery would earn or how projects would perform in the market.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Ontario’s Storage Market Timeline
The regulation proposal is part of the IESO’s Storage and Co-located Hybrid Integration Project. Its first phase is planned to establish a single storage resource model with state-of-charge management during 2027–2028. The proposed battery regulation role is the project’s second phase, planned for 2028.
The operator expects Ontario to have more than 3,500 MW of battery storage by 2030, following its E-LT1, LT1 and LT2 procurements. In June, the first capacity window of LT2 procured 640 MW of eight-hour storage, including a planned 200 MW/1,600 MWh Neoen project near Dryden, expected online in 2030. The 250 MW/1,000 MWh Oneida project began commercial operation in May 2025. These projects show the scale of storage being added, but the proposed regulation market role is limited to transmission-connected batteries in this phase.
The proposal keeps the IESO’s existing bidirectional regulation signal rather than creating separate upward and downward products. Distribution-connected resources, compressed-air storage and pumped-hydro storage are outside the scope of this phase.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Market Rules Still Under Development
The proposal is not a finalized market rule. The IESO has not yet set out the settlement, make-whole payment and market power mitigation designs that will accompany the change. The operator says cost-based selection will continue to be investigated as regulation supply grows, while the proposal describes reliability-based selection for scheduling.
It is also not yet clear how many batteries will qualify or participate, what revenues they might receive, or how the eventual performance factor will affect individual resources. The current phase excludes distribution-connected storage and other storage technologies, but the source material does not establish whether they may be considered in later work.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Feedback and Design Milestones
Stakeholder feedback on the design memo is due Oct. 30, 2026. The IESO plans to issue an updated design in the first quarter of 2027, covering settlement, make-whole payments and market power mitigation. The operator then plans to establish the single storage resource model and state-of-charge management in the first project phase, before introducing battery regulation in the second phase, planned for 2028.
Those dates are the IESO’s stated plan, not confirmation that the final rules or launch details are settled. Further design documents will determine how the proposal is implemented and what requirements participating batteries must meet.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What is regulation service?
Regulation service makes rapid adjustments to help balance electricity supply and demand and keep grid frequency close to 60 hertz. The IESO says generators with automatic generation control currently provide it.
Which batteries could participate under the proposal?
The proposal covers transmission-connected batteries registered as dispatchable single model storage resources. Distribution-connected resources, compressed-air storage and pumped-hydro storage are outside this phase.
When could batteries begin providing regulation?
The IESO plans to introduce battery regulation in the second phase in 2028, after work on a single storage resource model and state-of-charge management in the first phase.
Are the market rules and payments final?
No. The design is a proposal. The IESO plans further work on settlement, make-whole payments and market power mitigation, with an updated design due in the first quarter of 2027.
Source: rss
Halloween Picks
halloween
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
