Ancillary Services

Think of an orchestra where the main instruments play the melody everyone hears, while a conductor and a handful of supporting musicians work constantly in the background just to keep everyone in time and in tune. Ancillary services are that background work in the power grid, support functions that keep the system stable rather than delivering bulk electricity itself.

These services include things like frequency regulation, reserve capacity kept on standby in case a plant trips unexpectedly, and voltage support, all procured separately by the grid operator specifically to maintain overall system stability rather than to meet ordinary demand. As India adds more variable renewable capacity, solar and wind that cannot be dialled up on command the way a coal or gas plant can, the need for ancillary services to smooth out that variability has grown substantially.

Ancillary services markets are still relatively young in India but are becoming an increasingly important, and increasingly separately monetised, part of running a modern grid with a heavy renewable mix.