Current status of the DE-AT-PL-4M MC (Interim Coupling) Project
12 November 2020
The Nominated Electricity Market Operators (NEMOs) and the Transmission System Operators (TSOs), hereby inform stakeholders about the current status and planning of the DE-AT-PL-4M MC project following the guidance received from European Commission on 22 September 2020 and from Interim Coupling National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) on 26 October 2020, and the way forward as agreed with concerned NRAs.
The DE-AT-PL-4M MC project, also referred to as Interim Coupling project aims to connect the borders of 4M MC with the Multi-Regional Coupling (MRC) by introducing Transmission Capacity based (NTC-based) implicit capacity allocation on six borders (PL-DE, PL-CZ, PL-SK, CZ-DE, CZ-AT, HU-AT). The project has completed the design phase and entered its implementation phase in the end of 2019. Due to implementation bottlenecks identified in Q1 2020, the project was delayed compared to the original planning. After the guidance from the EC and NRAs was received, the project parties have prepared a detailed revised roadmap and discussed it with the concerned NRAs on 16 October 2020. Based on the updated planning, the joint regional testing phase of the project is expected to start at the end of January 2021, while tests with market participants are now planned in the second half of April 2021. The new go-live window of the project is foreseen for in May 2021.
The timely implementation of the Interim Coupling project is a prerequisite for the Bulgarian-Romanian Market Coupling project that is progressing as scheduled and that is supposed to go-live up to three months after the Interim Coupling project.
Market participants will be informed about the next steps and detailed information about the relevant tests in due time.
About SDAC
SDAC allocates scarce cross-border transmission capacity in the most efficient way by coupling wholesale electricity markets from different regions through a common algorithm, simultaneously taking into account cross-border transmission constraints, thereby maximising social welfare.
The aim of SDAC is to create a single pan European cross zonal day-ahead electricity market. An integrated day-ahead market increases the overall efficiency of trading by promoting effective competition, increasing liquidity and enabling a more efficient utilisation of generation resources across Europe.
For additional information on SDAC go to:
http://www.nemo-committee.eu/sdac
https://www.entsoe.eu/network_codes/cacm/implementation/sdac/