Continuous FCAS (raise reg + lower reg) — the battery responds to AGC signals every 4 seconds to maintain frequency within the normal operating band.
Regulation FCAS are the two continuous frequency services — raise regulation and lower regulation — that correct the small, constant drift in grid frequency during normal operation, as opposed to responding to a sudden contingency. An enabled unit follows AEMO's automatic generation control (AGC) signal, adjusting its output up or down roughly every four seconds to keep frequency inside its normal operating band around 50 Hz.
Regulation is more demanding than contingency because it requires near-constant small movements rather than an occasional large one, and since June 2025 it is also governed by the Frequency Performance Payments (FPP) scheme, which pays or charges providers according to how faithfully they track the AGC signal. Batteries are well suited to regulation for the same reason they suit contingency — millisecond response and effortless switching between charge and discharge — but capacity committed to regulation is unavailable for energy arbitrage in the same interval, one of the trade-offs NEMPulse's optimal-dispatch benchmark co-optimises.
Related terms: FCASContingency FCASFPP Scheme
See also: Actual vs optimal performance
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