Strong improvements in NDPs of TSOs

28.05.2019

The individual Network Development Plans (NDPs) of the European transmission system operators (TSOs) set the parameters for the development of the electrical transmission infrastructure on the national scale. At the pan-European level, the biennial Ten-Year Network Development Plans (TYNDPs) – conceived by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) with the participation of the member TSOs – provide the framework for in-depth identification of continent-wide key investments and infrastructure projects with high potential. It is the task of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to assess the coherence of national and EU-wide NDPs.

ACER now has published its detailed opinion on the schemes, scenarios and projects included in the most recent national NDPs. ACER is pleased to find that the coherence with the European TYNDP has substantially improved, e.g. through a wider use of cost-benefit analysis for projects or a more systematic use of a multi-scenario approach. In its 84-page opinion, however, the Agency also calls for some improvements to reduce inconsistencies.

ACER has published its opinion on the coherence of national and EU-wide NDPs

Linkup
> See ACER press release (html)
> Open ACER opinion No 13/2019 (pdf, 512.25kb)

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Core CCR project meeting hosted by HOPS

20.05.2019

Sixteen transmission system operators (TSOs) from the heart of Europe are participating in the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR) project in order to implement a decision taken by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) in November 2016 to merge the existing regional initiatives of Central Eastern and Central Western Europe into the European core region. These TSOs – including the twelve TSCNET shareholders 50Hertz, Amprion, APG, ČEPS, ELES, HOPS, MAVIR, PSE, SEPS, TenneT, Transelectrica, and TransnetBW – are strongly committed to implementing all CCR-related obligations in accordance with the respective network codes and guidelines of the European Commission.

Last week, the Croatian TSO HOPS organised a two-day project team meeting with representatives of all 16 Core CCR TSOs to calculate long-term cross-border transmission capacities compliant with the specifications on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM). As one of the two Regional Security Coordinators (RSCs) for Core CCR TSOs, TSCNET Services was also part of the meeting. The concrete objective of the meeting in the Croatian capital of Zagreb was to prepare a proposal for an appropriate calculation methodology. This proposal will be open for public consultation from 10 June 2019. During the meeting participants also visited the HOPS control centre.

HOPS hosted a Core CCR project meeting in Zagreb (picture: HOPS)

Linkup
> See HOPS press release, in Croatian (html)

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EU Parliament approves “Clean Energy Package”

27.03.2019

On 26 March 2019, the Members of the European Parliament adopted four new laws on the EU electricity market, which were agreed informally with EU ministers at the end of 2018. In detail, these are the new Electricity Market Regulation and Electricity Market Directive as well as the Regulations on Risk Preparedness and the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). This concludes the “Clean Energy for All Europeans Package” (CEP). The agreements now need to be formally approved by the EU ministers and published in the EU Official Journal before they can enter into force.

The overall objective of the CEP is to create a Europe-wide market for electricity that is cleaner, more competitive and more risk-adjusted. One of the more specific targets is to freely distribute at least 70% of trading capacity across borders from 2020 on in order to facilitate trade in renewable energy across EU borders and thus support the efforts to meet the EU’s binding target of 32% renewable energy by 2030 and to fulfil the obligations of the Paris Agreement. The regulation on ACER implies that the Agency will be given more tasks and powers.

The European Parliament adopts the last four CEP regulations (photo of the European Parliament: Leonardo1982/Pixabay)

Linkup
> See press release of the European Parliament (html)

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New syllabus for network codes

12.03.2019

The EU electricity network codes and guidelines are a detailed set of rules to promote the harmonisation of national electricity markets and regulations on the way to the European Energy Union. By the end of 2017, a total of eight network codes and guidelines have been implemented: three grid connection codes, three market codes and two operation codes. In order to raise awareness of these innovative pan-European rules for a more sustainable, reliable and interconnected power system and to better involve market participants in the code contents and their implementation, the Florence School of Regulation (FSR) has published a new syllabus as part of its online training on European network codes.

The online course partners of the FSR are those institutions that have developed the codes: the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), the European Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the European Commission. The new manual deals mainly with market codes and discusses, for instance, the different European electricity markets and their establishment in the national context as well as their integration. Also, two connection codes are described and their technical requirements clarified. The syllabus is also a beneficial addition to ENTSO-E’s e-codes application for smartphones.

The FSR has published a new syllabus on the European electricity network codes (picture: photomontage using an illustration by the European Union / EC – Audiovisual Service)

Linkup
> See ENTSO-E press release (html)
> Visit Network codes syllabus website of the European University Institute (html, with access to download)

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ACER consultations on CCRs, CSAM and RAOCM

28.01.2019

Two public consultations have recently been launched by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), both on proposals from transmission system operators (TSOs) affecting core operational areas of the TSO business. National regulatory authorities (NRAs) have delegated the decision on both proposals to ACER, which requests comments from interested stakeholders for a sound assessment.

In December 2018, the relevant TSOs submitted their suggestions on the methodologies for the Coordination of Operational Safety Analysis (CSAM) and for the Coordination of Relevant Power Outages (RAOCM) in electricity. The first ACER consultation refers to these proposals. It is open for all interested stakeholders until 18 February.

The background of the second consultation is the concern of NRAs to adopt some TSO proposals for amendments to the determination of capacity calculation regions (CCRs). Now ACER wants to gather views and information from stakeholders that relate to the latest ACER modifications to the second TSO proposal for amendments of the CCR determination. This consultation is open until 17 February.

ACER, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has launched two public consultations on the determination of CCRs and on the methodologies for CSAM and for RAOCM

Linkup
> See ACER press release on CSAM/ROACM consultation (html)
> Direct access to consultation on CSAM/ROACM (html)
> See ACER press release on CCR determination (html)
> Direct access to consultation on CCR determination (html)

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Substantial advancements in market integration

07.12.2018

Even two positive news for the integration of the European power market have turned up this week. The first comes from the Cross-Border Intraday (XBID) solution. The aim of XBID is to increase the overall efficiency of cross-border trading and intraday coupling. Both are essential for the future European internal energy market. The parties involved in XBID are pleased to confirm that XBID is operating continuously stable and effectively: Since the go-live in June 2018, more than 6.3m trades have been successfully processed.

So far, XBID delivers continuous trading across Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. The preparations for the second XBID-go-live-wave in 2019 are in full swing and the countries to participate are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. Further changes to XBID concern the gate opening hours (GOTs) in accordance with a decision of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) of April 2018. Revised GOTs apply from 1 January 2019 initially in those capacity calculation regions (CCRs) where the capacity calculation methodology (CCM) has already been approved.

This week also saw the launch of the Single Allocation Platform for long-term capacity allocation at European borders. 28 transmission system operators (TSOs) from 22 European countries have thus taken another significant step towards an integrated power market. The new platform promotes the development of liquid and competitive forward markets all across Europe in a coordinated manner. It provides market participants with the opportunity to hedge against the risks of cross-border trading. The participating TSOs ensure non-discriminatory access for all market participants to long-term cross-zonal capacity at all relevant borders.

With XBID and the Single Allocation Platform, the European power market integration progresses substantially

Linkup
> See Amprion press release (html)
> See TenneT press release, (html)
> See TransnetBW press release (html)
> See TransnetBW news release on allocation platform (html)

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ACER consultation on Core Capacity Calculation methodology

04.12.2018

Complex issues require precise phrasing. Therefore the new public consultation of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is called: “Public Consultation on the amendments of the proposal for common capacity calculation methodology for the Core region”. The consultation has opened on 4 December and will be accessible until midnight on Christmas Eve. Invited to participate are all interested stakeholders, including regulatory authorities, nominated electricity market operators (NEMOs) and transmission system operators (TSOs).

What exactly is the objective of the survey? The Capacity Calculation Methodology (CCM) quantifies the electrical capacity that can be offered across borders to the day-ahead and intraday markets. The Core CCM is valid within the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR), which comprises Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The TSOs from the Core CCR – among them are the twelve TSCNET shareholders 50Hertz, Amprion, APG, ČEPS, ELES, HOPS, MAVIR, PSE, SEPS, TenneT, Transelectrica and TransnetBW – have conceived and proposed amendments to the Core CCM.

The competent regulatory authorities of the Core CCR have not yet approved the TSO proposal and asked ACER to decide on whether the modified Core CCM complies with the European Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM) Regulation. Interested parties are invited to provide feedback on the consultation questions concerning the relevant aspects of the Core CCM.

ACER launches public consultation on the compliance of the Core CCM proposed by the Core TSOs with the European CACM Regulation

Linkup
> See ACER press release (html)
> Direct access to consultation (html)

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ACER releases ITC report

02.11.2018

Every year, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) reviews the implementation of the Inter-Transmission System Operator Compensation (ITC) mechanism on behalf of the European Commission (EC). This also includes the monitoring of the management of the ITC Fund established by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). The purpose of this fund is to compensate transmission system operators (TSOs) for the costs incurred as a result of the hosting of cross-border electricity flows.

ACER has now published the ITC report for 2017, in which the Agency concludes that the implementation of the ITC mechanism and the management of the ITC Fund in 2017 continued to comply with the requirements of the relevant European regulation. While the ITC Fund remained relatively stable at €259.35m compared to 2016, the volume of transitory losses increased significantly. However, the increasing impact on the losses component of the ITC Fund was almost fully offset by a notable reduction in the weighted average value of losses for the ITC parties. This average value of 35.36€/MWh was actually the lowest since 2011.

ACER has released its report on the Inter-Transmission System Operator Compensation mechanism in 2017

Linkup
> See ACER press release (html, with access to report)

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Get e-codes on your smartphone

23.10.2018

The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) presents an appealing new technical feature for anyone taking part or just being interested in the European energy market: The e-codes application for smartphone. With the e-codes app, you get direct access to the articles of all eight European electricity network codes and the respective guidelines.

The European network codes are regulations for facilitating the integration and coordination of European energy markets. They are intended to sweep aside the many obstacles on the road to a well-functioning European Energy Union. The network codes for the electrical system have been developed by ENTSO-E in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

The last of the codes came into effect at the end of last year. Hence, it is high time to better involve market participants in code contents and implementation. Beyond the mere access to the code texts, the user of the e-code app has additional options such as tracking the implementation tasks, obtaining implementation deliverables and being informed about anything related to e-codes, e.g. public consultations or events.

ENTSO-E has developed a smartphone application to always keep users up to date with the European electricity network codes

Linkup
> See ENTSO-E press release (html, with download options)
> Watch demonstration video on ENTSO-E’s YouTube channel

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Acer decision on fallback procedures for Core CCR

09.10.2018

In March 2018, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) was asked by the competent regulatory authorities to decide on the amended proposal of the transmission system operators (TSOs) from the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR) regarding the Core CCR fallback procedures. In the following August, ACER invited all interested stakeholders to share their views on the issue in a public consultation. After evaluating the survey, ACER has now published its decision on revisions to the methodology for fallback procedures.

The Core CCR consists of sixteen Central European TSOs, twelve of which are TSCNET shareholders: APG (Austria), ČEPS (Czechia), ELES (Slovenia), HOPS (Croatia), MAVIR (Hungary), PSE (Poland), SEPS (Slovakia), Transelectrica (Romania), the Dutch-German TSO TenneT, and the three further TSOs from Germany 50Hertz, Amprion, and TransnetBW. ACER’s decision introduces minimal changes to fallback procedures in order to improve legal clarity and enforceability. Most importantly, instead of five different shadow allocation rules, only a single set of rules is adopted by the Agency, which specifies in its decision to which bidding zone borders these rules apply.

ACER has published its decision on the improvement of the fallback procedures proposed by the TSOs of the Core CCR

Linkup
> See ACER press release (html, with access to decision and consultation results)

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