Summary : Secondary reserves of EDF SA's power plants. Detailed explanation of the secondary reserve mechanism: At all times, production must be equal to consumption. RTE ensures this balance in real time and takes into account the vagaries of consumption or production (weather, availability of the production facilities, etc.). To maintain the balance between supply and demand, RTE must have an adjustable power reserve at all times, both upwards and downwards. There are three types of reserves that can be called upon in succession: The reserves that can be activated automatically: the frequency system services, which can be broken down into the primary reserve and the secondary reserve Manually activatable reserves: the adjustment mechanism that constitutes the tertiary reserve In order to build up these reserves, an integrated European balancing market has been created. Its main features are defined in the European Electricity Balancing Regulation, which describes the technical, operational and commercial rules for the acquisition of balancing capacities, the activation of balancing energy and their financial settlement. Source of the explanation: https://www.rte-france.com/chaque-seconde-courant-passe/concevoir-et-mettre-en-oeuvre-des-mecanismes-de-marche-innovants-pour-le-systeme-electrique