EPEX SPOT celebrates 20 years since first Day-Ahead auction

First contracts traded on 26 November 2001 for delivery in French market area

Paris, 26 November 2021. Today, the European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT celebrates 20 years since the first Day-Ahead auction on the Exchange’s predecessor Powernext. The first Day-Ahead auction took place on 26 November 2001 and the total volume exchanged was 996 MWh. Today, over 200,000 MWh are traded on the French EPEX Day-Ahead auction per day.

In the early 2000s, organised power markets started to emerge across Europe, with standardised products and rising liquidity on the respective markets. In 2008, the power spot activities of French Powernext and German EEX were merged into EPEX SPOT, initially operating the power spot markets in Austria, France, Germany, Luxemburg and Switzerland. Over the years, EPEX SPOT has transformed itself within the changing landscape of the European Power markets. Since 2015, cooperation between power exchanges takes place within a EU regulatory framework, defining cross-border trading solutions and coordinating the pan European Market Coupling activities. EPEX SPOT merged with APX in 2015; therefore Belgium, Great Britain and the Netherlands joined the market offering of EPEX SPOT. Since mid-2020, EPEX SPOT also offers Day-Ahead and Intraday trading in the four Nordic countries, and the Day-Ahead market in Poland since February 2021.

Today, EPEX SPOT operates as a truly European exchange, offering power spot markets in 13 countries and various services to other power exchanges in Europe. Over the years, the Exchange has been a pioneer in new product offerings such as 15-minute products and Intraday auctions, while delivering performant and secure systems to their customers. Constant innovation is part of the company’s DNA, with further market novelties such as Localflex. EPEX SPOT’s efforts are centred towards the facilitation of the EU climate goals.