All about Market integration

Day-ahead trading of electricity refers to the buying and selling of electricity on the day before the actual production and delivery. Day-ahead trading either takes place on the spot market of the respective power exchange (often called day ahead market or day ahead auction) or through bilateral contracts between two parties - usually power trading companies - outside of the power exchange in over the counter (OTC) deals.

Anyone who wants to aggregate decentralized plants in a Virtual Power Plant is confronted with a whole range of questions during the planning phase: Which business cases are feasible in the regulatory context of my country – and which ones make economic sense in this market environment? How can I connect the technical units in my Virtual Power Plant and which solutions meet the technical requirements of the grid operator? We compiled the top 10 questions each aggregator-to-be need to find an answer for.

The liberalization of the energy market means the opening of the electricity and gas market to free competition. This has broken up existing monopolies and opened the market to more participants. In most cases, liberalization was accompanied by unbundling, which made a distinction between generation, transmission and distribution/retail in the energy sector. The aim was to make electricity supply more efficient by integrating competitive forces where possible and by integrating regulation where necessary. In Europe, liberalization began in 1996 with the adoption of the first European Directive.

The term market coupling refers to the aim to form an interconnected (European) market for electricity. Market coupling is intended to link control areas and market areas in order to harmonize different systems of electricity exchanges and, in particular, to reduce price differences. This way, the electricity market is to some extent aligned with the physical reality of electricity flows, since neighbouring electricity grids are in any case physically interconnected and electricity always takes the shortest route from producer to consumer - across market boundaries. Market coupling systems (PCR, FBMC and XBID) exist both in day-ahead trading and in intraday markets. This is also valid for electricity markets outside Europe, but the details provided here refer to the European market only.

Intraday power trading refers to continuous buying and selling of power at a power exchange that takes place on the same day as the power delivery. In Europe, the largest intraday power exchanges are the EPEX Spot (European Power Exchange Spot Market) in Paris and the Nord Pool. It can also take place in an OTC trade (over the counter), which means off-market contracts negotiated between power buyers and sellers. This is also known as the short-term wholesale power market, especially in contrast to long-term power trading on the power futures market.