Overview of revenue streams available to battery storage in the Polish market
Available Markets
This page describes the revenue streams included in the current Poland Dispatch Model release. It is a description of model scope, not of the Polish market as a whole.
The model covers day-ahead energy plus three frequency response revenue streams: FCR capacity and aFRR capacity, both procured by PSE, the Polish transmission system operator, and activated aFRR energy, settled through the European PICASSO platform.
Poland also operates an intraday market on the Polish Power Exchange (TGE), a capacity market, and mFRR. These markets exist and are active, but are not modelled in this release. The reasoning for each is set out under “Markets not modelled in this release” on this page.
Energy Markets
| Market | Granularity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Day-ahead | 15-minute | Main wholesale market cleared the day before delivery |
Poland’s day-ahead market clears at 15-minute settlement intervals. Continuous intraday trading and intraday auctions exist on the Polish Power Exchange (TGE) but are not included in this release. Intraday is excluded because liquidity is not yet at battery-relevant depth, not because the market does not exist. Full reasoning is set out in “Why intraday is excluded from this release” on this page.
Ancillary Services
| Service | Procurement | Direction | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCR | Hourly, day before delivery | Asymmetric (up and down priced separately) | Fastest frequency response; capacity payment only |
| aFRR Capacity | Hourly, day before delivery | Asymmetric (up and down priced separately) | Secondary frequency control capacity reservation |
| aFRR Energy (PICASSO) | Real-time | Directional | Energy payments for activated aFRR, available from 11 July 2025 |
FCR stands for Frequency Containment Reserve, and aFRR stands for automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve. Both are procured in hourly blocks by PSE.
Day-ahead Market
The day-ahead market is the wholesale market where most energy is traded. Key characteristics:
- 15-minute granularity – aligned with European wholesale intervals
- Single clearing – the market clears once per day for all delivery periods
- Pay-as-cleared – all accepted bids receive the marginal clearing price
Batteries participate by charging during low-price periods and discharging during high-price periods, capturing the spread. Polish day-ahead spreads have been widened by rapid solar build-out, which pushes midday prices down and creates a larger daily arbitrage opportunity for storage.
Why intraday is excluded from this release
Poland has an active intraday market. Continuous trading and intraday auctions run on TGE, and volumes have grown substantially year on year. Intraday is nonetheless excluded from the wholesale energy line in this release, as a deliberate first-iteration choice, for the following reasons:
- Limited battery revenue today: utility-scale batteries in Poland do not currently earn meaningful revenue from intraday products. Continuous-session liquidity is thin, and auction volumes are small relative to day-ahead.
- Uncertain liquidity growth: the pace at which intraday liquidity will deepen is difficult to forecast, and modelling it would require assumptions on trade fill rates and spread capture that cannot be supported with current data.
- Day-ahead is the tangible arbitrage leg: Polish day-ahead spreads are observable and backtestable, keeping the benchmark tied to revenues that are real and measurable now.
Intraday will be reconsidered in a future methodology version once sustained, battery-relevant liquidity is visible in public data.
Frequency Response Services
Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR)
FCR is the fastest-responding frequency service, activated automatically when grid frequency deviates from its target:
- Asymmetric provision – upward and downward capacity are qualified, procured, and priced independently, so a battery can offer different volumes in each direction
- Capacity payment only – FCR pays an availability fee; there is no separate energy payment for the small volumes moved while regulating
- Hourly blocks – capacity is contracted in hourly windows, procured the day before delivery
- Limited-energy rule – a battery must keep enough stored energy to sustain its committed response for a short defined window in each direction
Polish FCR differs from Germany’s, where FCR is a single symmetric product contracted in four-hour blocks. In Poland the two directions are separate products, and no derating is applied to the offered volume.
Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve (aFRR)
aFRR is secondary frequency control that restores frequency after FCR has acted:
- Asymmetric products – separate upward and downward capacity
- Hourly blocks – capacity contracted the day before delivery
- Pay-as-cleared – capacity payments set at the marginal clearing price published by PSE
aFRR Energy Activation (PICASSO)
When aFRR capacity is called upon, energy payments are made separately through the PICASSO platform for cross-border aFRR energy exchange:
- Available from 11 July 2025 – aFRR energy revenues enter the model from the PICASSO go-live date and are zero before it
- 15-minute settlement – activated energy settled at quarter-hour resolution
- Directional delivery – upward activation discharges the battery, downward activation charges it
Currency
Model outputs are computed in Polish złoty (PLN). Published dashboards and client materials typically present revenues in euros per megawatt per year, using a fixed PLN-to-euro conversion for comparison against other European markets.
Markets not modelled in this release
The following revenue streams exist in the Polish market but are not included in the current model. Each is planned for a future methodology version.
- Capacity market: Poland’s capacity market is live, and batteries hold capacity agreements in it. It is excluded from this model release because contracted revenue is asset-specific, depends on the delivery year in which the agreement was won, and is subject to de-rating factors that have changed sharply between auctions. To be added once the treatment is settled.
- Intraday: Continuous intraday trading and intraday auctions are live on TGE, with volumes growing year on year. Excluded because liquidity is not yet at battery-relevant depth. To be added once sustained depth is visible in public data.
- mFRR: PSE procures manual Frequency Restoration Reserve, and batteries can technically participate. Excluded because reliable activation data is not published. To be added when that data is available.
Related Pages
- Dispatch Model – How the model optimises across these revenue streams
- Capacity Expansion Model – Projected buildout across Europe