BBCM is the shared balancing capacity market for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. As a small but key part of the Baltic Synchro program, it went live on an immovable deadline, with cross-border scope and tight integrations into existing TSO systems on February 4th, just days before the disconnection from the Russian grid and has run without a single major outage or incident since then.
The BBCM platform supports daily operations, strengthens security of supply, reduces Baltic balancing costs, and aligns the region with European market practice, facilitating synchronization with the Central European Synchronous Area (CESA), which occurred on February 10th.
The process that ensured this success started before day one of the platform's development.
The Baltic TSOs chose to invest in internal and 3rd party resources to ensure production of a very high-quality RFP. Precise, testable requirements, a realistic yet tight budget, and evaluation criteria that favored bidders offering the best functional fit, a reliable project timeline, and the highest quality SMEs over the lowest headline price ensured that bids priced near identical scopes and would deliver on-time and on-spec.
What Navitasoft delivered
In partnership with N-SIDE, we developed and delivered a balancing capacity market platform that enabled the Baltic TSOs to reliably balance their grids after disconnection from the Russian grid on which they previously relied. Delivery followed our proven test-driven development process in an AGILE 2-week sprint with in-flight UAT. Monitoring delivery and budget deviations for the Project Plan after every sprint, along with fast decision-making processes on the client and vendor side to react to any deviation, guaranteed that progress closely tracked the Project Plan. This resulted in:
- On time go-live, meeting a very aggressive timeline
- Delivering the complete contracted specification with no erosion or compromise of scope
- Including the inevitable unforeseen requirements within the predefined change request budget, not a cent more, and without delaying delivery milestones
Baltic Synchro's recognition on the global stage
We are honored to be a part of the historic Baltic Synchronization project. It not only helped the region meet its ambitious energy goals, but also gained international recognition by winning the prestigious Project of the Year award from the Project Management Institute (PMI). The PMI Awards are like the Oscars of the global project management scene, and we congratulate each and every one of the organizations involved.
How did we manage to do that - and what lessons can TSOs take away?
FAQs
What is BBCM?
The Baltic Balancing Capacity Market, a common day-ahead market where the Baltic TSOs procure balancing capacity to deliver grid stability. The BBCM platform integrates with each of the TSO’s balancing market systems and EU level systems.
Who operates BBCM?
The electricity TSOs of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
What was Navitasoft’s role?
Solution provider for the market platform along with our delivery partner N-SIDE.
Why did the project deliver exactly on-time?
Because the buyers set out a clear and accurate scope with a realistic but demanding deadline and the suppliers project planning and resource allocation exactly matched the work to be done.
Can these practices apply outside TSOs?
Yes. Any organization procuring complex systems benefits from clear requirements, an accurate good-value cost estimate, and a public procurement evaluation methodology that rewards solution quality and credibility.
At the same time, IT project success is not just about writing the best code. How a project is planned, delivered and maintained - from collaboration to methodology, prioritization and future-proof design - makes the difference between "it does the job today" and long-term benefit.
Contact
We are happy to walk you through the BBCM setup and show how the same approach can support your program. Check out our Contact section and pick a representative of your choice!
