On December 17, 2024, the Regulation on Aggregation Activities in the Electricity Market (“Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette along with amendments to; (i) Electricity Market Balancing and Settlement Regulation , (ii) Electricity Market License Regulation, (iii) Electricity Market Ancillary Services Regulation, (iv) Regulation on Storage Activities in the Electricity Market, (v) Regulation on Unlicensed Electricity Generation in the Electricity Market, (vi) Regulation on Renewable Energy Source Guarantee Certificate in the Electricity Market, (vii) Electricity Grid Regulation and (viii) Regulation on Certification and Support of Renewable Energy Resources (“Amended Regulations”). The Regulation and Amended Regulations will enter into force on January 1, 2025.

Scope of the Regulation and Eligibility to Perform Aggregation Activities

Pursuant to article 2/1 of the Regulation, this Regulation outlines the procedures and principles for determining the participation of aggregators in the organized wholesale electricity market and bilateral agreement activities. It also defines the duties, authorities, and responsibilities of the parties involved in the transactions conducted under aggregation activities within the electricity market.
Article 2/2 of the Regulation defines the market participants who will be out of scope as (i) unlicensed electricity generation facilities that have not completed the ten-year purchase guarantee, (ii) unlicensed electricity generation facilities belonging to Organized Industrial Zone (“OIZ”) and (iii) legal entities holding OIZ generation licenses.

Pursuant to the article 6/1 of the Regulation, the aggregation activity must be carried out by legal entities holding an aggregation licence or an aggregation activity to be incorporated in the supply licence. These entities shall perform market transactions by concluding an aggregation service agreement with grid users. To engage in wholesale electricity markets and ancillary services, the aggregator will likewise sign the necessary market participation agreements with the market operator and the ancillary services agreements with the grid operator. Aggregators may supply energy to eligible consumers in their portfolios, and may also monitor and analyse generation and consumption data and generate reports. The aggregator is also responsible for the fulfilment of all obligations under the relevant legislation regarding market transactions, including collateral and imbalance on behalf of the grid users in its portfolio.

General Principles

As per the article 8/2 of the Regulation, aggregators may include licensed electricity generation facilities with an operational electrical installed capacity of 100 MW or less in their portfolio. Electricity generation facilities included in the aggregator portfolio, may be accepted as balancing units or ancillary service units if they meet certain conditions set forth in relevant regulations.

Pursuant to the article 9/1 of the Regulation, only unlicensed generation facilities that are connected to distribution or transfer grids and completed its ten-year purchase guarantee can be included in aggregators’ portfolios. Unlike the requirements for licenced generation facilities, the Regulation does not foresee a power limitation for unlicensed facilities to be included in the aggregators’ portfolios. However, according to the article 9/2 of the Regulation, if needed, the Electricity Market Regulation Authority Board (“Board”) can set lower and upper limits.

As per the article 9/3 of the Regulation, unlicensed generation facilities located in the same balancing zone in the aggregator portfolio are considered as balancing units and/or ancillary service units if they fulfil the conditions specified in the relevant legislation.

Portfolio Limitations for Electricity Generation Facilities

Article 10 of the Regulation sets forward the portfolio limitations. If the aggregator’s portfolio includes electricity generation facilities, the total operational installed electrical capacity of licensed and unlicensed generation facilities cannot exceed 2000 MW. In addition, the share of unlicensed electricity generation facilities within this total capacity must be limited to 500 MW.

If the total operational installed capacity of licensed electricity generation facilities exceeds the 2000 MW limit during any billing period, the aggregator must remove licensed electricity generation facilities from the portfolio in the following billing period to ensure compliance with the specified limit, effective from the next billing period. If the aggregator fails to carry out the required action within the specified period, the market operator will remove licensed electricity generation facilities from the aggregator’s portfolio, starting with the most recently added facility, and continue in sequence until compliance with the limit is achieved. Similarly, if the capacity of unlicensed facilities exceeds 500 MW limit during any billing period, the aggregator must remove the facility in the same manner as the licenced facilities.

In case the aggregator fails to perform the said transaction within the specified period, the market operator notifies the grid operator, which made the last update, to remove the unlicensed generation facility from the relevant portfolio in an amount not less than the excess amount. Within 3 (three) business days following the notification, the relevant grid operator carries out the portfolio removal process, effective from the second billing period following the excess, and notifies the market operator via the market management system with the updated data.

Portfolio Limitations for Electricity Consumption Facilities and Standalone Storage Facilities

Unlike generation facilities, the Regulation does not foresee a capacity limit to consumption facilities and standalone electricity storage facilities. If necessary, the Board may set a limit for the total contract capacity of consumption facilities and standalone storage facilities included in the aggregator’s portfolio.

As per the article 7/2 of the Regulation, the aggregator also supplies energy to the consumption facilities included in its portfolio within the scope of demand side participation. According to the same article, in case the aggregator does not want to supply the consumption facilities that are included in its portfolio through demand side participation, it must notify the market operator via the market management system.
Consumption facilities located in the same balancing zone in the portfolio are considered as balancing units and/or ancillary service units if they fulfil the conditions specified in the relevant legislation. Additional criteria may be determined by Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEİAŞ) (“TEİAŞ”), if necessary, for consumption facilities to be accepted as balancing unit and/or ancillary service unit.

In case the aggregator participates in the balancing power market and/or ancillary services market, it is obliged to establish control systems, including communication infrastructure, which will allow remote control of the consumption facilities in its portfolio and generation facilities if requested by TEİAŞ. Aggregators are also obliged to provide all information required by the market operator and TEİAŞ in a timely and complete manner through measurement systems and/or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA), including remote communication infrastructure. Pursuant to the Temporary Article 1 of the Regulation, TEİAŞ will establish the infrastructure that will allow aggregators in the balancing market to control the facilities in their portfolios remotely by May 1, 2025.

Amendments to the Other Regulations

As mentioned above, along with the Regulation, certain changes were made to Amended Regulations to ensure uniformity. Notable amendments are summarized as follows:

• According to the amended article 34/A of the Electricity Market Licence Regulation; an aggregator license grants the license holder the right to (i) manage the generation and/or consumption schedules of grid users within its portfolio, (ii) engage in the trading of electricity and/or capacity for these users’ facilities, and (iii) trade electricity and/or capacity for eligible consumers in its portfolio, (iv) conduct market transactions related to the purchasing and selling of electricity and/or capacity for grid users, (v) participate in supply processes for ancillary services under ancillary service agreements, and (vi) establish and operate standalone electricity storage facilities to balance its portfolio.

• As per the amended article 34/13 of the Electricity Market License Regulation, the aggregator cannot engage in wholesale trading activities under the supply license on behalf of the grid users with whom they concluded an agreement to supply electricity.

• According the temporary article 42 of the Electricity Market License Regulation, applications for aggregator licenses in the electricity market, as well as amendment applications to include aggregation activities under a supply license, will be accepted starting from January 1, 2025.

• Pursuant to the amended article 5 of the Regulation on Storage Activities in the Electricity Market, a supply or aggregator license holder with a minimum installed capacity of 2 MW may establish one or more standalone electricity storage facilities under the same supply or aggregator license.

• According to the amended article 32/C of the Electricity Market Balancing and Settlement Regulation, in order to participate in the balancing power market with ancillary services, the aggregator must provide energy to the consumption facilities within its portfolio.

• As per the amended article 5 of the Regulation on Certification and Support of Renewable Energy Resources, aggregator YEKDEM (Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism) registrations will be automatically made for the billing periods in which they have unlicensed generation facilities in their portfolio. In addition, according to amended articles 21 and 23, aggregators will be responsible for fulfilling the YEKDEM obligations of the licensed generation facilities within their portfolio. If an aggregator’s portfolio includes consumption facilities or production facilites, the aggregator will also be responsible for fulfilling the supplier’s obligations.

This information is provided for your convenience and does not constitute legal advice. It is prepared for the general information of our clients and other interested persons. This should not be acted upon in any specific situation without appropriate legal advice. This information is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced or translated without the prior written permission of Ergün Avukatlık Bürosu.