Answer to everything in the future grid is Flexibility Services - What role can V2G play?

In the educational posts series on grid balancing services in the Nordic Synchronous Area, here is the last article deals with FFR – Fast Frequency Regulation. It poses the question: Could it be a "V2G service"?

Below are the links to previous articles in this series:
1. Frequency Controlled Disturbance Reserves (FCR-D): The Dream V2G Service?
2. V2G Electric Grid Services - Flexibility is "King"
3. Frequency Containment Reserve for Normal Operation (FCR-N) - The "TOUGH" V2G Service

From Energinet (Danish TSO):
“In the event of major system disturbances in low inertia situations, the FFR is a fast reserve used to regulate the frequency in case of substantial frequency drops resulting from the outage of major generation units or lines. FFR is necessary in situations with low inertia as FCR-D in the Nordic synchronous area cannot by itself maintain frequency above the specified threshold values in these situations in the event of major outages.

FFR is an automatic upward regulation reserve provided by generation or demand units which, by means of control equipment, respond to grid frequency deviations. The reserve is activated automatically at frequency dips below 49.7/49.6/49.5 Hz and remains active until FCR-D has been fully activated.”

The required activation times are:

49.7 Hz 1.3 sec
49.6 Hz 1.0 sec
49.5 Hz 0.7 sec

The volume is low and primarily asked for in the summertime when grid inertia is low. The bidding is per hour and the clearing price is the price of the highest accepted bidder. It is an up-regulation service which is inversely proportional to the inertia in the grid. The service is seldomly activated, and the energy content is negligible.

I analyzed the FFR pricing from 1/1/2022 to 3/31/2023 (Figure) based on Energinet data.

The number of hours purchased FFR in the period was 1,652, average price was €325MW/Hr and max. volume 19MW (avg. 5MW).

Bidding 10 kW power and getting accepted in each hour would yield revenue of €325 * (10kW/1000kW) * 1,652 hours = € 5,369 per year.

BUT:
The FFR service is seldomly purchased in the winter period. Over the full period analyzed the FFR services was only purchased ~14% of the hours available.

Looking at the “Summer” period 5/1 2022 – 10/31 2022 the average price goes up to €333 but the hours purchased only decreases to 1,421. Bidding 10 kW power in this period would yield revenue of €333 * (10kW/1000kW) * 1,421 hours = €4,732 per year, a difference of a mere €637.

A negligible amount of energy is needed, even lower than for the FCR-D service. The service has high pricing, but low volume and very fluctuating demand.

Could it become a V2G service if faster responding? Or even a V1G service? Or is it better suited for stationary batteries (incl. those buffering fast chargers? A main challenge for a coalition of V2G/V1G EVs would be to figure out what to bid (kW). Machine learning may come to the help.

Hope you've found these articles insightful. A big thanks to Bjoern Christensen for sharing his knowledge in the area of grid balancing services. There are a very few materials online that speaks more practical and explains with real life examples, and so am sure these this series of articles can be useful to Energy retailers, aggregators, grid operators, CPO/CSOs and also to researchers.