Today, ACER releases its Opinion, addressed to the European Parliament and European Commission, highlighting the urgency for Transmission System Operators (TSOs) to meet their obligation of making 70% of transmission capacity available for cross-border electricity trading by the end of 2025.
As making transmission capacity available to trade electricity with neighbours is crucial to achieving the ambitious political objectives set for renewable generation, and as the legal deadline (of the end of 2025) for doing so nears, steps to realise the minimum 70% requirement become more urgent.
Why is maximising transmission capacity important?
Maximising interconnection capacity by reaching the minimum 70% requirement:
- is a pre-requisite for the energy transition;
- enhances security of electricity supply by optimising the use of the existing grid;
- mitigates prices and price volatility;
- provides the market with much-needed flexibility; and
- ensures a level playing field between domestic and cross-border trades.
There is much at stake in not reaching the minimum 70% requirement and Member States are still far off it.
Where are we on the path to reaching 70% minimum requirement and how to get there?
The last ACER report (July 2023) found that most Member States in highly meshed areas of the power grid made available on average 30-50% of the capacity for certain network elements. In parallel, the costs of managing grid congestions in the EU exceeded €4 billion in 2022.
There are 3 tools foreseen by the EU rules for maximising capacity for cross-border electricity trading:
- TSO to do optimal and coordinated actions to relieve grid congestion;
- TSOs to undertake targeted grid developments; and
- TSOs to complete the bidding zone review process.
This ACER Opinion calls for the swift implementation by Member States and TSOs of the 3 tools foreseen by EU rules to get us to the 70% minimum requirement.
