Glossary
Pooling
Also known as: Poolingvertrag, Pooling contract, Regelenergie-Pool, Balancing energy pool, Virtuelles Kraftwerk, Virtual power plant
Pooling is the bundling of several systems, such as PV systems, battery storage systems or controllable loads, into one virtual unit that takes part jointly in Swissgrid's balancing energy market. The pool operator handles registration, tenders and control; each system connects through a modem. Pooling opens the market to systems that alone fall short of the minimum bid of 1 MW (primary control reserve and, from mid-2026, tertiary control reserve) or 5 MW (secondary control reserve). The basis is a pooling contract between system owner and pool operator.
A commercial storage system of 90 to 783 kWh, as Ampere Dynamic’s site studies typically size it, lies far below Swissgrid’s minimum bids. Only the pool brings together the capacity a tender requires, and it distributes the revenue from holding capacity and activation among the participants.
For PV systems without storage, the pool is the only route into the market for tertiary control reserve: a modem in the distribution board connects the system to the pool, which curtails feed-in on activation. For battery storage systems, the pool opens up secondary control reserve, controlled by the energy management system that coordinates the reserve with peak shaving and self-consumption.
Ampere Dynamic runs the pooling as part of its energy marketing: registration of the system, participation in the tenders and support during operation. The five-step process and the revenue potential are described in the article Balancing energy with battery storage.