CRIDA

Universal application of exchange’s intraday market cap soon

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An energy ministry plan for the universal application of a remuneration cap concerning electricity producers in the energy exchange’s intraday market, covering all purchases and sales, not just three supplementary intraday auctions (CRIDAs), is in the pipeline.

At present, a cap only applies to the three CRIDAs, as Greece had not yet joined Europe’s continuous transactions (XBID) platform when the cap was imposed in early October.

XBID trading in Greece was launched just weeks ago. Its volume of trade is many times over that of CRIDAs.

Cross-border intraday XBID continuous market ready

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A next step for the Greek energy exchange’s European unification will be taken tomorrow with the country’s entry into Europe’s cross-border intraday XBID continuous market, through coupling with Italy and Bulgaria.

This move comes following the coupling of Greece’s intraday market with those of Italy and Slovenia in September, 2021.

Continuous trading will accompany the existing supplementary regional intraday auctions (CRIDAs).

The launch of continuous intraday market trading is a milestone for Greece’s RES sector as a large percentage of green power plants will, as a result, immediately fully assume balancing market responsibilities.

Therefore, as of tomorrow, renewable energy projects with feed-in premiums will be responsible for the full amount of deviations they may cause.

A transitional stage implemented since the launch of the target model and which limited the financial penalties of RES units for discrepancies will no longer apply.

 

Positive start for Greek, Italian, Slovenian intraday coupling

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The coupling of the Greek, Italian and Slovenian intraday markets took a positive first step yesterday with a successful trial. According to Greek energy exchange sources, the transition from local intraday auctions (LIDAs) to regional intraday auctions (CRIDAs) covering the three countries was successfully completed.

Two complementary CRIDAs have been staged without any problems, while a third session is scheduled to take place early today.

The first CRIDA session ended with electricity price levels at 149.64 per MWh, 14.31 percent below the LIDA auction level recorded a day earlier. The initial CRIDA session’s transactions represented a total electricity amount of 2.53 GWh.

As a result of the market coupling, intraday market transactions will no longer be limited to domestic restrictions but will also utilize the capacity of the Greek-Italian grid interconnection left over once electricity import and export activity, through day-ahead markets, has been completed by the two neighboring countries.

Utilization of the grid interconnection’s leftover capacity will offer greater flexibility to suppliers, producers and self-supplying consumers.

The coupling of the Greek, Italian and Slovenian intraday markets represents a first step towards European intraday market unification.

It is planned to be followed, on March 8, by Greece’s entry into the European Cross-Border Intraday Market (XBID), offering continual intraday market transactions, via Italy and Bulgaria.

Target model revisions to enable new player entries, market coupling

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The country’s Market Reform Plan, forwarded by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, for publication consultation, includes a road map for target model interventions, designed, amongst other things, to facilitate the target model market entry of new players as well as ensuing market coupling steps with neighboring countries.

This road map also includes a plan to lift existing target model restrictions, including a 20 percent upper limit for PPAs that is currently valid without any expiry date.

Another revision included in the Market Reform Plan is intended to separate energy used for balancing purposes and energy used for unit loading revisions during re-dispatching procedures for grid security or sufficiency reasons.

This separation process is planned to be implemented as of December 1, beginning with flagging of quantities activated as a result of loading revisions.

A second stage is planned to be introduced March 31, 2022, when clearing procedures for these quantities will be launched.

Power grid operator IPTO is expected to submit, today, its proposal concerning the first stage.

As for the revisions to facilitate the target model entry of new players, a demand response mechanism concerning all markets, not just the balancing market, is planned to be implemented February 1, 2022.

Just over a month later, on March 8, RES market balancing services will also be introduced, according to the road map.

Intraday market coupling of the Greek, Italian and Slovenia intraday markets is planned for September 21, through complementary regional intraday auctions (CRIDAs), a further step towards full unification of the European electricity market.

 

Market coupling with Bulgaria expected by early May

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Market coupling to unify the Greek and Bulgarian day-ahead markets, representing a second step for the participation of Greek wholesale electricity markets in a pan-European unification of markets through the target model, is planned for late April or early May, sources have informed.

The forthcoming step was preceded by market coupling between Greece and Italy, unifying, as of December 15, the day-ahead markets of the two countries through a single price coupling algorithm, EUPHEMIA (Pan-European Hybrid Electricity Market Integration Algorithm). It calculates energy allocation, net positions and transboundary electricity prices.

Greece’s market coupling with Bulgaria promises to create an even broader trading platform for market participants, sector officials noted. Besides bilateral contracts for energy imports and exports, market coupling will also facilitate automatic energy flow from the higher-priced country to the lower-priced country.

To date, Greece has clearly been an energy importer in its transboundary energy trading relationship with Bulgaria. It remains to be seen if this will be maintained under the new conditions.

Once market coupling of the Greek and Bulgarian day-ahead markets has been accomplished, Greece’s next step towards unification with European energy markets will be to link its intraday market with that of Italy, a step expected by next summer, through the implementation of complementary regional intraday auctions (CRIDA).

Further ahead, a third step, balancing market coupling through two European platforms, MARI (Manually Activated Reserves Initiative) and PICASSO (Platform for the International Coordination of Automated Frequency Restoration and Stable System Operation), is planned for the second half of 2022.