European Energy Exchange AG (EEX) is celebrating ten years of energy trading on the exchange. In those ten years EEX has evolved from the “Leipzig power exchange” to one of the leading trading platforms for energy and related products in Europe. The starting signal for German power trading was given in Leipzig on 14 June 2000. On the first trading day, 1,836 megawatt hours (MWh) were traded – a modest trade volume from today’s perspective.
At the time of the merger between the two predecessor exchanges, LPX Leipzig Power Exchange and the Frankfurt-based European Energy Exchange, in July 2002, the new EEX already had 111 trading participants from ten countries.
EEX has shaped the energy market and has made a significant contribution to the further development of exchange trading in energy and to opening up new markets right from the outset. This includes for instance the continuous expansion of its product portfolio, such as the inclusion of trading in CO2 emission allowances, trading in financially settled coal futures and the launch of trading in natural gas three years ago. EEX reached a further important milestone for the expansion of its position in Europe with the establishment of its subsidiary European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC) in 2006. ECC is the clearing house of EEX and its partner exchanges and provides clearing as well as physical and financial settlement of transactions concluded on EEX and, currently, 4 other exchanges.
EEX managed to continuously expand its leading position through co-operations, shareholdings and the establishment of further subsidiaries and, in addition to this, it has also made an active contribution to the integration of the European energy markets. The product co-operation with Eurex Frankfurt AG on the Derivatives Market for emission rights and the co-operation agreement with the French Powernext S.A., which was signed in 2008, can be cited as two examples of this. The establishment of a joint Spot Market for Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland constituted one of the aims of this co-operation, which was reached with the merger of the markets into EPEX Spot SE in 2009. A further aim of the co-operation was fulfilled with the integration of the Power Derivatives Markets in EEX Power Derivatives. EEX Power Derivatives is a majority- owned subsidiary of EEX which was established with effect of 1 January 2008. It operates the German and the French Power Derivatives Market and, hence, has a central position in Continental European power trading. Thanks to its growing presence on the market and to the confidence which the trading participants place in the well functioning and liquid markets EEX has managed to achieve good business results even under the difficult circumstances of the financial market crisis in the past year. At the end of the financial year 2009, the annual trade volume on the German and French Power Derivatives Market alone amounted to 1,025 terawatt hours (TWh) and the transaction fees in this field amounted to EUR 23.6 million. Overall, more than 250 trading participants from 22 countries are now operating on the markets of EEX – and this increase is continuing.
In the context of its position as the leading energy exchange in Continental Europe EEX began to promote transparency in energy trading very early on. The new “Transparency in Energy Markets“ transparency platform, which was launched in October 2009 and which EEX has developed and implemented together with the 4 German transmission system operators, power plant operators and various associations, constituted a major milestone.
“We are very proud of what we have achieved so far and are looking forward to everything that still lies ahead“, Dr. Hans-Bernd Menzel, Chief Executive Officer of EEX, states. ”EEX shapes energy trading and clearing to a considerable degree and promotes actively the development and networking of energy markets. In this process, cooperation partners are welcome within our open business model. We will move into the next decade of the company’s development on the basis of this position and vision”, Dr. Menzel continuous to explain.