Success of 15-minute contracts reveals potential for further auctions
Exchange Council calls for development of demand response with Power Exchanges as key contributor
Vienna / Paris, 8 December 15 – At the quarterly meeting of the Exchange Council of the European Power Exchange in Vienna, the success of the 15-minute auction on the German Intraday market was highlighted. Since its introduction in December 2014, volumes have experienced constant growth. In the past months the auction has pooled as much volume as the continuous 15-minute market – on average more than 10 GWh are traded per trading session. The sum of both 15-minute continuous and auction volumes in October 2015 shows a 42% increase in 15-minute contract trading compared to October 2014, while similar amount of energy from solar and wind have been generated during these two months. Moreover, since the auction go-live, the share of 15-minute products traded on the EPEX SPOT intraday markets has been increasing from 18% to 24% of the total Intraday volume. In the light of this success, EPEX SPOT is investigating the interest of the market and analysing the potential additional auctions on its Intraday markets.
Demand response is a crucial element of a sustainable energy market. As variations on the supply side become increasingly important due to the integration of vast amounts of intermittent renewable capacities, it is of paramount importance for the supply/demand balance that demand becomes more reactive. A new regulatory framework is needed to allow the participation of demand response resources on the wholesale market using the existing products. This in turn should limit curtailments and allow demand response aggregators to value their services. The Exchange Council is calling for such development on the European power market and considers that the contribution of power exchanges in this regard as a key element.
Recently, some new shareholders have entered the capital of the European Power Ex-change and the Exchange Council was informed about these evolutions. The transmission system operators (TSOs) Amprion in Germany, APG in Austria and Swissgrid in Switzerland have purchased shares in the TSO holding HGRT. They join Elia (Belgium), RTE (France) and TenneT (Netherlands). HGRT now reunites the majority of the Western European TSOs from the countries in which EPEX SPOT operates power markets. HGRT holds 49% of the capital of EPEX SPOT.
“The closer relations with TSOs will further strengthen the long-lasting cooperation for the creation of a single European power market”, says Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, Chairman of the Management Board of EPEX SPOT. “We now have a balanced governance with strong roots on the Exchange side through EEX and Deutsche Börse and, on the other hand, with our specific electricity sector through the TSO shareholders.”
The fourth Exchange Council meeting in 2015 was held on 4 December 2015 in Vienna and was chaired by Peter Heydecker.
The Exchange Council of EPEX SPOT is an official body of the Exchange. 22 members and 4 permanent guests represent adequately the diversity of economic and corporate profiles that exists among the Exchange Members from various sectors: producers, power trading companies, transmission system operators, regional suppliers and financial service providers, as well as commercial consumers and academics. Its missions include in particular the adoption of the Exchange Rules and the Code of Conduct of EPEX SPOT and their amendments. The Exchange Council approves new trading systems as well as new contracts or market areas and approves the appointment of the Head of the Market Surveillance Office. It meets up quarterly.
The European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT SE and its affiliates APX and Belpex operate organised short-term electricity markets for Germany, France, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg; markets representing 50% of European electricity consumption. Striving for the well-functioning European single market for electricity, EPEX SPOT shares its expertise with partners across the continent and beyond. EPEX SPOT is a European company (Societas Europaea) in corporate structure and staff, based in Paris with offices or affiliates in Amsterdam, Bern, Brussels, Leipzig, London and Vienna. More than 280 companies trade annually over 500 TWh of electricity on EPEX SPOT and its affiliates. EPEX SPOT is held by EEX Group, part of Deutsche Börse, and HGRT, a holding of European electricity transmission system operators. For more information, please visit www.epexspot.com