Frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) is used by AEMO to maintain the frequency of the system within tolerances and around 50 cycles per second. FCAS is a mechanism for ensuring balance within the market which can be variable and volatile. FCAS providers are especially important as the uptake of renewable energy within the NEM continues.
On 22 February 2021, the AER announced that CS Energy has paid $200,000 in penalties for allegedly failing to ensure that it could provide FCAS that it had already offered to the market.
CS Energy has also repaid $1.13 million to AEMO, which it had received as payment to provide the services.
In a comment on the incident, AER Chair Clare Savage said:
“Inaccurate information about FCAS offers undermines AEMO’s ability to manage frequency deviations that is critical to supporting the integrity of the power grid,”
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