Hellenic Energy Exchange

Top energy sector officials taking part at Power & Gas Forum, March 22-23

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The government’s top-ranked energy sector officials as well as a host of other leading figures from political, institutional, academic and business domains will be talking part in the Power & Gas Forum on March 22 and 23 at the Wyndham Grand Athens Hotel, an event being staged by energypress for a fourth time. Conference speakers and attendees will participate in person.

Speakers at the event will include Greek energy minister Kostas Skrekas; the energy ministry’s secretary-general Alexandra Sdoukou; secretary-general of transport at the ministry of infrastructure and transport Ioannis Xifaras; RAE (Regulatory Authority for Energy) president Athanasios Dagoumas; EFET’s (European Federation of Energy Traders) Jerome Le Page; Tomás Llobet of European Energy Retailers (EER); two former Greek energy ministers, Giannis Maniatis and Giorgos Stathakis; Sokratis Famellos, a member of the main opposition leftist Syriza party; and Haris Doukas of the PASOK-KINAL socialist party.

Other conference participants will include power grid operator IPTO’s chief executive officer Manos Manousakis and his deputy Giannis Margaris; gas grid operator DESFA’s chief executive Maria Rita Galli; RES market operator DAPEEP’s president and CEO Giannis Giarentis; distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO’s chief executive Anastasios Manos; EDEYEP (Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company) president Aristofanis Stefatos; the Hellenic Energy Exchange’s newly appointed CEO Alexandros Papageorgiou; EDA THESS general manager and EDA ATTIKI CEO Leonidas Bakouras; the Greek prime minister’s special adviser for energy Nikos Tsafos; energy ministry adviser Theodoros Tsakiris; and energy markets guru Alex Papalexopoulos.

The academic community will be represented by professors Pantelis Kapros, Stavros Papathanasiou, Pantelis Biskas, Nikolaos Hatziargyriou and Antonis Metaxas.

As always, energy-sector authorities will also participate at the event. They include Loukas Dimitriou (ESAI/HAIPP – Hellenic Association of Independent Power Producers); Antonis Kontoleon (EVIKEN – Association of Industrial Energy Consumers); Giannis Mitropoulos and Miltos Aslanoglou (ESPEN – Greek Energy Suppliers Association); Irodotos Antonopoulos (ESEPIE – Hellenic Association of Electricity Trading & Supply Companies); Panagiotis Lostarakos and Panagiotis Papastamatiou (ELETAEN – Greek Wind Energy Association); Stelios Loumakis (SPEF – Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Energy Producers); and Stelios Psomas (SEF/HELAPCO – Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies).

Key sector entrpreneurs and executives who have so far confirmed their participation include: Ioannis Kalafatas (Mytilineos); Kyriakos Kofinas (PPC); Nikolaos Zahariadis (Elpedison); Anastasios Lostarakos (NRG); Dinos Nikolaou (Energean); Kostis Sifnaios (Gastrade); Nikolaos Satras (Dioryga Gas); Panos Nikou (Volterra); and Ioannis Kokkotos (ABB).

The forum’s full agenda will be finalized and announced in the coming days.

Energy exchange platform for PPAs standardized with some flexibility

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Procedures leading to the establishment of an Energy Exchange platform hosting green-energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) have restarted following a short break of a few weeks.

Though still at a preliminary stage, the procedure has already indicated that the PPA platform being prepared by an energy exchange working group will offer largely standardized terms as a means of fostering agreements, especially during the platform’s early stage, while also offering some degree of flexibility, as too much rigidity could hamper agreements.

As a next step, the working group intends to focus on two other key aspects, one concerning aggregation details and the other whether bids submitted should be binding or not. Further ahead, tools related to risk management and clearing capability will be looked at.

The energy exchange’s leadership, newly appointed, is now examining a related recommendation delivered by Grant Thornton, serving as the exchange’s consultant on the new platform.

The energy exchange is also looking at comments and observations provided by participants of a related consultation procedure staged by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy.

In addition, the energy exchange is preparing to distribute a questionnaire to prospective PPA platform participants, the aim being to cater to market needs as best as possible.

Once finalized, the PPA platform must be approved by RAE. If given the green light, the energy exchange’s administration will need to proceed with the search for an information system provider, a major stage in the process of setting up the PPA platform.

Demand-response inclusion in Energy Exchange markets early March

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A demand-response mechanism is expected to be introduced to Energy Exchange markets by early March, following a consultation procedure for revisions to rules concerning the exchange’s day-ahead and intraday markets.

Completion of the consultation procedure, expected to commence within the next few days, according to energypress sources, will enable a demand-response mechanism to be applied in the day-ahead and intraday markets for the first time since Greece’s adoption of the target model.

The basic idea is to actively involve the demand-response mechanism – the consumption side – for creating economic signals that will enable better management of the energy market.

This particularly concerns distributed loads or industrial loads that will be able to participate in markets on competitive terms with all other electricity producers, while at the same time setting signals for the balancing market.

The European framework, especially the Clean Energy Package and subsequent EU regulations, envisages full demand-response participation in electricity markets. EU member states and their respective market operators and energy exchanges have been requested to take all necessary measures to make this possible.

PPC retail electricity market share at 63.3% in December

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Power utility PPC’s captured a retail electricity market share of 63.29 percent in December, followed by the Mytilineos group’s Protergia, at 7.6 percent, Heron, at 7.03 percent, and Elpedison, at 6.09 percent, a latest report published by the Hellenic Energy Exchange has shown.

Day-ahead market prices in December rose 22 percent, averaging 276 euros per MWh compared to 227 euros per MWh in November, while electricity demand increased to 4,488 GWh from 4,109 GWh, the Energy Exchange data showed.

As for December’s energy mix, natural gas-fueled electricity captured the greatest share, 37 percent, followed by renewables, at 24 percent, electricity imports, at 19 percent, lignite-fired generation, at 15 percent, and hydropower, at 3 percent.

December wholesale prices second-highest in EU

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Wholesale electricity prices in Greece ranked as the EU’s second-highest in December, reaching 276.89 euros per MWh in the day-ahead market, up considerably, both on a monthly and annual basis, while electricity demand fell, a Hellenic Energy Exchange report has shown.

This December’s wholesale price level was 21.5 percent over the November price, and 18 percent above the level recorded in December, 2021.

Greece ranked second behind the common Italian and Maltese energy market, whose December price level was 294.91 euros per MWh.

Greece’s DAM prices remained high last month as a result of the country’s usage of a month-ahead model incorporating the TTF gas index. December’s electricity prices in Greece were shaped by the end-of-November price level of the TTF gas index, which ended the month at 118.68 euros per MWh.

By contrast, most other European wholesale electricity markets benefited from a drop in gas spot prices. They fell significantly in the last ten days of December to levels of 75 euros per MWh.

Limited renewable energy contributions to the country’s energy mix, down to 23 percent in December, compared to 33 percent in November, were another factor. This decline was attributed to lower wind energy output in Greece last month. On the contrary, wind energy output in central and northern Europe increased significantly during the final days of December.

Reduced trading at the day-ahead market in December, down 19 percent on December, 2021, signaled a further reduction in electricity demand last month, the Hellenic Energy Exchange report noted.

Energy exchange examining Corporate PPA prospects

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The Greek energy exchange has begun examining the prospect of adopting Corporate PPAs, a new market, as indicated by Wednesday’s kick-off of a pre-feasibility study for a non-mandatory auction platform.

This is purely an initiative of the Greek energy exchange, which, according to information obtained by energypress, wants, through this process, to understand the fundamentals of the market and determine how it could operate in Greece.

Speaking at this week’s Green Deal Greece 2022 conference, organized by TEE, the Technical Chamber of Greece, Manolis Kalaitzakis, the energy exchange’s Director of Strategy and Development, referred to the issue, noting that such a tool would enable smaller producers and consumers who do not possess the required experience and know-how to gain access to PPAs.

The Greek energy exchange, through its study, wants to establish an in-depth opinion, based on Greek market conditions and data, in order to decide whether a Corporate PPA market should exist and determine what it could offer to the country’s energy system.

Electricity price intervention mechanism to parliament

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A legislative amendment enabling the implementation of an electricity-price intervention mechanism has been prepared by the energy ministry and will soon be submitted to parliament for ratification.

The amendment includes the framework of a temporary compensation plan for electricity producers, offers details on price-cap formulas for respective electricity production technologies, and also sets a time period for these extraordinary measures.

According to sources, the mechanism will be implemented next month, on July 1, and remain effective until June 1, 2023, while a series of technical issues, including determination of compensation levels for electricity producers, will be set through ministerial decisions.

Natural gas and lignite-fired power stations will not exactly be subject to price caps, but algorithms taking into account a series of factors will be applied to control prices, the sources said.

Based on current market conditions, the upper-level compensation price for natural gas-fueled power stations has been estimated at between 220 and 230 euros per MWh.

An upper-level compensation price of between 85 to 90 euros will be set for RES producers, while a compensation price of 100 euros per MWh is expected for hydropower stations.

According to the plan, the Hellenic Energy Exchange will withhold the difference between the market clearing price and compensation amounts for electricity producers, transferring these amounts to the Energy Transition Fund. These amounts, along with related state budget sums, will be utilized for electricity-bill subsidies, the aim being to keep the average retail price of electricity at approximately 0.145 euros per KWh.

Hellenic Energy Exchange earns distinctions at Impact BITE Awards

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The Hellenic Energy Exchange was awarded, along with the Athens Stock Exchange, the Gold award in the category “Specialized Industry Applications / Energy Sector”, and the Bronze Award in category “Large Scope IT Projects” during the ceremony of the Impact BITE Awards 2021. Accepting the awards Dr. Zoumas Christoforos, HEnEx Director Market Operations, noticed that such rewards verify the huge efforts of both companies to create and develop a trading platform incorporating cutting edge technology and having large scale impact to energy sector in Greece. The “Energy Trading System Spot” (ETSS) is a major achievement for the successful integration of the Greek Market with EU Electricity Markets aligned to EU target Model objectives.

The above project implementation was positively evaluated by the award committee of the IMPACT BITE Awards, one of the most important awards of technology innovation in Greece.

PPC chooses Greek energy exchange for lignite-fired electricity packages

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Power utility PPC has chosen to offer lignite-fired electricity packages to third parties through the Greek energy exchange, not the European energy exchange, as it was also entitled to, sources have informed.

This main reason behind this decision, part of an imminent mechanism to be implemented as a remedy to a long-running antitrust case concerning PPC’s monopoly in the lignite sector, is that PPC sees the forthcoming mechanism as a good opportunity for the domestic futures market to gain momentum and, by extension, help improve the utility’s cash flow.

The mechanism’s launch, coming at a time of elevated wholesale electricity prices, will help PPC’s rivals offset the period’s price volatility, which is crucial support that will enable independent players to compete more effectively in the retail electricity market and offer stable prices to consumers, the European Commission’s Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, also Brussel’s Commissioner for Competition, noted in an official announcement.

A legislative revision for the mechanism offering lignite-fired electricity packages to third parties is likely to be submitted to parliament today by the energy ministry.

The plan is expected to begin offering lignite-fired electricity packages to third parties by the fourth quarter.

 

PPC local, European exchange option for lignite packages

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Power utility PPC will be entitled to choose whether to offer lignite-fired electricity packages to third parties through the Greek energy exchange or European energy exchange, according to details of an upcoming mechanism to be implemented as a remedy to a long-running antitrust case concerning PPC’s monopoly in the lignite sector.

PPC preference for the domestic energy exchange would keep open the option of physical delivery of these lignite electricity packages and ensure the company greater flexibility in its portfolio management. Opting for the European energy exchange would not permit physical delivery, making the deals purely financial transactions.

All that remains for the implementation of the mechanism, whose details have been agreed to by the government and European Commission, is a decision by the energy ministry on when to submit a related legislative revision to parliament, according to sources.

The legislative revision has been completed and the ministry is believed to be on standby for an appropriate date, the objective being to make a first round of lignite-fired electricity packages available to third parties by the fourth quarter this year.

All electricity suppliers will be entitled to purchase these packages, to have three-month durations.

As previously reported by energypress, the electricity quantity planned to be offered to suppliers through the mechanism in the fourth quarter this year will represent 50 percent of lignite-fired output in the equivalent period of 2020.

Then, for every quarter in 2022 and 2023, lignite-fired electricity packages to be offered to PPC’s rivals will represent 40 percent of lignite-based production in equivalent quarters of the respective previous years.

According to the country’s decarbonization plan, all existing lignite-fired power stations will cease operating by the end of 2023.

 

Energy Exchange Group (EnEx) celebrates its 3-year anniversary

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Founded in June 2018, EnEx is comprised of the Hellenic Energy Exchange S.A. (HEnEx) and the EnEx Clearing House S.A. (EnExClear). Since its designation by the Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) as the Nominated Electricity Market Operator (NEMO), HEnEx has evolved in line with the European agenda for a single and integrated European energy market.

As a designated NEMO, HEnEx successfully performed the necessary market transformations for the preparedness and operation of the Greek power market under the new model. All changes were completed in time and by the 1st of November 2020, the Greek power market was integrated with the European Target Model for electricity markets. HEnEx now operates the Day-Ahead Market, the Intraday Market and an energy Derivatives Market.

A very important milestone for HEnEx was the market coupling of the Greek Day-Ahead market to the European markets – over the border between Greece and Italy on December 15th 2020. On May 11th 2021, HEnEx achieved its second market coupling with Bulgaria. These interconnections enable cross-border trading, optimal capacity allocation and congestion management – all of which, facilitate a European Union-wide market in electricity with optimal welfare and resource allocation.

EnExClear plays also an important role in the flawless operation of the spot electricity markets in Greece. It provides clearing, risk management and settlement services for the Day-Ahead Market and the Intraday Market, and is also responsible for the clearing, settlement and shipping of implicit cross border transactions with the coupled markets. Furthermore, EnExClear is also responsible for the risk management and the settlement of positions of the balancing market, which is run by the Greek Transmission System Operator (IPTO).

Both HEnEx and EnExClear are directing their efforts towards the next important steps:

The establishment of a gas trading platform is the next major milestone. In collaboration with the Greek Gas TSO (DESFA), RAE and the Ministry of Environment, EnEx is designing the model for the new gas trading platform which is expected to be operational in fall 2021.

This year, HEnEx will also start operating three Complementary Regional Intraday Auctions (CRIDAs) and foresees its inclusion in the European Cross-Border Intraday (XBID) initiative in Q1 2022. Furthermore, following the connection of the island of Crete to the mainland electricity network, HEnEx is also leading the integration of the island to the existing Day-Ahead and Intraday Markets of mainland Greece.

In this dynamic and evolving energy environment, EnEx is committed to contributing to sustainability and providing high quality, transparent and non-discriminatory services to its markets participants. With confidence, EnEx will continue developing with vision and determination, while learning from its positive experiences, and strengthening the relationship with its partners and stakeholders.