Balancing Power Market in Transition: Vattenfall Enters with 200 MW of Offshore Wind Capacity
Hamburg - With 200 MW of balancing capacity from the Veja Mate wind farm in the North Sea, offshore wind energy is playing a growing role in stabilising the German power grid. Vattenfall is entering offshore balancing power marketing in Germany for the first time.
Veja Mate: 200 MW Prequalified for the Balancing Power Market
The Veja Mate Offshore Wind Farm is located about 95 kilometres northwest of Borkum in the North Sea. Its 67 wind turbines have a total installed capacity of around 416 MW. Vattenfall describes the 200 MW as the largest balancing capacity from offshore wind to date. The capacity prequalified for balancing power thus corresponds arithmetically to just under half of the wind farm's capacity.
The prequalification took place in the control area of transmission system operator Tennet. According to the operating company, Veja Mate Offshore Project GmbH, the wind turbines have been prequalified for secondary balancing power (aFRR) and will in future be able to provide up to 200 MW of positive and negative balancing power. The balancing capacity actually available depends, among other things, on wind conditions and on how the turbines are operating at the time.
Vattenfall is responsible for direct marketing and optimisation of power generation and is now extending this activity to balancing power marketing. The company is seeking further prequalifications, including for offshore wind farms, solar PV plants combined with large-scale batteries, and external battery storage systems.
Balancing Power Market: Wind Farms Tap Additional Revenue Sources
Balancing power is used to offset short-term imbalances between power generation and consumption and to stabilise the grid frequency at 50 hertz. Transmission system operators procure power reserves for this purpose, which are activated when needed.
Wind turbines can provide negative balancing power by deliberately reducing their output. To provide positive balancing power, by contrast, they must hold back additional feed-in capacity, for example through previously curtailed generation. Precise turbine control and reliable forecasts of available wind power are prerequisites.
For wind farm operators, participation in the balancing power market opens up additional revenue opportunities. Possible income from providing and delivering balancing power may be offset by losses in regular power marketing. Prequalification alone therefore does not guarantee additional revenue. Among other factors, contract awards in tenders and the respective market prices are decisive.
Offshore Wind in the Balancing Power Market: From Borkum Riffgrund 1 to Veja Mate
The provision of balancing power from offshore wind farms in Germany began as early as May 2022. At that time, Ørsted's Borkum Riffgrund 1 Offshore Wind Farm provided balancing reserve for the German power grid for the first time. The technical approval covered secondary balancing power and minute reserve.
In February 2025, RWE announced that the Amrumbank West Offshore Wind Farm had been prequalified to provide 60 MW of secondary balancing power. In July 2026, marketing started for around 70 MW of negative secondary balancing power from the Trianel Windpark Borkum I. With Veja Mate, another large offshore wind farm is now adding to the supply.
Onshore wind farms are also increasingly participating in the balancing power market. Since July 2025, MVV has been marketing secondary balancing power from an onshore wind farm in Hesse. In December 2025, a wind farm pool at the Huje site in Schleswig-Holstein followed, with around 28 MW of prequalified flexibility in the Tennet control area.
Wind Energy Gains Importance in the Balancing Power Market
As more offshore and onshore wind farms are prequalified, the supply of balancing power from renewable energy sources is expanding. While conventional power plants, pumped-storage plants and battery storage systems are already established market participants, wind energy is gradually opening up additional applications in the power system. The development from the first offshore prequalifications to the 200 MW at Veja Mate shows that larger wind farm capacities are now also being made available for the balancing power market.
Source: IWR Online, 20 Oct 2026
