CCEE, EPEX SPOT and ECC closely cooperate to deliver state of the art trading and clearing solutions to the Brazilian power market
São Paulo | Paris | Leipzig, 26 November 2012. In response to increasing needs from the Brazilian community for a competitive, sustainable and secure electricity market, the Brazilian Chamber of Electric Energy Commercialization (CCEE) joined forces with the European Power Exchange (EPEX SPOT SE) and European Commodity Clearing (ECC AG). The partners have been closely cooperating during the last months in order to design state of the art trading and clearing solutions to the Brazilian power market.
The first product of this partnership is the White Paper: Building a Smart Brazilian Electricity Market, launched Thursday, 22 November 2012, at the 4th Brazilian Free Market Annual Meeting, in Bahia, Brazil. The document points out that a trading environment with standardized products will lower the transaction costs and increase the liquidity, leading to robust price formation. Financial security could be achieved by means of a centralized settlement carried out by clearing houses.
In Brazil, the free market was created more than one decade ago and proved to be essential for the development of the Brazilian Electricity Market. Nowadays the free market has more than 2,200 agents and represents 26% of total consumption and this share can reach 46% of the total market, considering the current eligibility criteria. However, transactions in the free market are 100% OTC, lacking liquidity and transparent price formation.
Due to the relevant participation of the free market in the Brazilian Electricity Market, it is important to provide to this environment reliable price references and appropriated risk management mechanisms. From the point of view of competitiveness, the replacement of the bilateral counterpart credit risk for the clearing solution favors a greater number of market participants, since it would strengthen the trust in market processes. These conditions will reduce uncertainty and increase the confidence of investors in making long term decisions.
During the next months, the partners intend to contribute to the development of the Brazilian Electricity Market in close cooperation with the Brazilian authorities and the main stakeholders.