The third meeting of EPEX Spot Exchange Council chaired by Dr. Günther Rabensteiner was held on March 9, 2010 in London. Two main topics were discussed: the adaptation of the Exchange Rules in view to launching the Central Western Europe (CWE) Day Ahead price coupling and the market design and trading system for the cross-border intraday market of EPEX Spot to be launched in 2010.
The main modifications to the Exchange Rules related to CWE market coupling pertain to the introduction of a new category of members, the Transmission Rights Providers, represented by the Transmission System Operators (TSOs) in EPEX Spot’s market areas, and of a new type of product, the Market Coupling Contracts. The contractual relationship between EPEX Spot and the Transmission Rights Providers will meet the requirements of national and EU regulations applicable to the TSOs.
The Market Coupling Contracts allow for price coupling between market areas linked by interconnections by enabling energy flows between these areas. The fact that market results for all connected areas are calculated in an integrated manner leads to optimal market results and maximum price convergence, only limited by potential capacity bottlenecks. In the course of the price coupling calculation, the transmission capacity rights for the interconnections are allocated implicitly, the Market Coupling Contracts being the means for TSOs to sell transmission capacity rights in an optimal way.
The Exchange Council has also approved the changes of the technical price boundaries on the French Day Ahead market between -3,000 € and 3,000 € in order to achieve harmonization with the current German price boundaries.
These changes to the Exchange Rules will enter in force when CWE market coupling is launched. With these modifications and their approval by the Exchange Council, EPEX Spot has made a major step forward in its preparation for price coupling with other areas.
The Exchange Council supports the market model of the cross-border intra-day market based on the existing infrastructures: ComXerv, the trading system currently used in Germany, and the TSO capacity platform already implemented on many interconnectors. ComXerv will be connected to the capacity platform operated by the TSOs based on existing TSO rules and will include a cross-border matching facility. This will allow to match intraday orders across different market areas. Pending further technical analysis with the concerned TSOs and European Commodity Clearing (ECC), the clearing house of EPEX Spot, it is expected to launch the cross-border intra-day market as soon as possible in the course of 2010.
The Exchange Council has also debated the impact of the law on renewable energy (EEG) in the first weeks of 2010 on the EPEX Spot German market. The Council has underlined the remarkable adaptation of the market participants to this new context and has encouraged any measure to enhance the transparency of the market.
