ACER is seeking for applicants to join two new expert groups which will be established to advise and contribute to ACER’s work under REMIT. The expert groups will seek to build on the good experience of previous REMIT expert groups organised by ACER.

The expert group on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency will advise on REMIT surveillance, conduct, integrity, and transparency (including assessing the obligation to disclose inside information); as well as on how other EU legislation, or new technologies, could impact energy trading and the functioning of the internal energy market.

The expert group on wholesale energy market data reporting will contribute to improving data collection, in particular how market participants can better comply with the data reporting requirements foreseen by the regulation.

How to apply?

We are seeking for a diverse group of experts with experience in wholesale energy market integrity and transparency, trading, and reporting of REMIT data. We will also be seeking to ensure representation of the stakeholders impacted by the work of ACER (e.g. market participants, organised markets and other persons professionally arranging transactions, Registered Reporting Mechanisms, Inside Information Platforms, etc.).

To apply, please follow the instructions in the Open Letters and make sure you fulfil all the application criteria.

Deadline to apply is Monday 20 November 2023.

Access the Open Letter on the establishment of an expert group on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency and the Open Letter on the establishment of an expert group on wholesale energy market data reporting.

EU Member States need to massively ramp up their renewable power capacity in the coming years. This increase in renewables from variable sources, such as wind and solar, will also increase the need for ‘flexibility’ in the EU electricity system. A joint report released today by two EU agencies, EEA and ACER, demonstrates how Member States could exploit collaboration synergies to unlock flexibility and enhance energy security while contributing to long-term climate neutrality. Key levers include better cross-border planning and forecasting, enhanced use of interconnectors as well as financial incentives and reliable information for electricity consumers to adapt demand when needed.

With the EU 2030 renewables target of 42.5% (compared with 22% in 2021), this decade will see an accelerated decarbonisation of EU electricity supply. A joint report by the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) underlines the need to double the 'flexibility' of Europe’s power system to keep pace with the growth in renewables from variable sources, such as wind and solar.

Flexibility is the power system’s ability to adjust to the fluctuating generation and consumption of energy. Flexibility can be provided in different timeframes, such as days, weeks or seasons and by different technologies. Currently, peak generation gas plants provide much of the flexibility but with the clean energy transition, other types of flexibility resources are needed from both the demand and supply side. Meeting the flexibility challenge facilitates the deployment of renewables and brings benefits to European Member States and consumers.

The report underlines that: 

• Flexibility in the EU power system needs to almost double by 2030 compared to today to keep up with the growth of variable renewable electricity sources.
• Enhanced electricity interconnection is key. More grids should be built across borders and the existing grid capacity used better. Interconnectors facilitate the efficient flow of electricity across borders to where it is most needed. Existing and planned interconnectors facilitate flexibility to be shared across border and in 2030 could prevent the forced curtailment of variable renewable power (to balance the system) by an amount equivalent to the 2022 electricity consumption of Sweden.
• A combination of demand response and energy savings not only reduces energy bills but also provides much needed flexibility, thus facilitating renewables and supporting Europe’s security of energy supply. In 2030, better demand response and energy savings could reduce the need for power supply from sources other than wind and solar by an amount equivalent to the 2022 electricity consumption of Spain.
• Allowing price signals to drive investments and consumer behaviour is key. Consumers also need reliable information to make well-informed choices.
• The ACER-EEA report calls for Member States to better assess and have complementary national and EU-wide assessments of flexibility needs (as currently being discussed by Europe’s co-legislators in the electricity market design reforms).
• To foster common policies across borders, Member States could introduce regional cooperation on flexibility into their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), and include detailed energy data in their greenhouse gas emission projections.

The ACER-EEA report 'Flexibility solutions to support a decarbonised and secure EU electricity system' is presented by the EU Agencies at today’s (20th October) meeting of Member States’ Energy Director Generals in Madrid, under the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

What’s next?

Today's joint ACER-EEA report highlights demand response as a key flexibility solution. In December 2023, ACER will publish a report on barriers to demand response that should help Member States unlock its potential.

Read the report.

See the report’s infographic.

ACER publishes today a consultancy study on the impact of EU and national gas storage regulations.

The study was commissioned to VIS Economic & Energy Consultants with the aim of:

• collecting and analysing national measures recently applied by EU Member States (with and without storage facilities) within the framework of the European Gas Storage Regulation;

• assessing how these measures contribute to achieving the storage filling targets, and, where possible, estimating the associated costs; and

• identifying possible difficulties when implementing the measures.

What is the role of gas storage and why is it important?

Gas storages play an important role in the European gas system as they supply up to 25-30% of the total gas consumed in the EU during winter. Storing gas physically in the EU helps mitigating the impact of a potential gas disruption. This is key in a context where the EU’s internal gas production declines, while Europe aims to phase out its remaining dependency on Russian gas supply.

The energy crisis which followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 underscored the importance of having gas storages adequately filled in across Europe, in case of potential gas supply disruptions.

When gas prices are similar during winter and summer, or even more expensive during summer (as it happened during 2022), market participants are discouraged from injecting gas into storages during the summer, as they would do it at a loss. As a consequence, winter storages levels may be lower and less gas can be withdrawn in case of need. This may pose a risk to the security of gas supply as storage levels at the start of the winter may not be sufficient to address supply-demand imbalances. In such cases, administrative measures may be required to ensure that gas storages are filled in, regardless of unfavourable market signals.

What are the main findings of this report?

The analysis concluded the following measures recently helped meeting the storage filling targets, despite the discouraging market signals:

• Financial incentives for storage users: offering financial incentives for storage users facilitated the utilisation of storage capacity. Incentives such as tariff discounts and direct subsidies have proved to be effective. On the other hand, the interest of market participants in taking part in more elaborate incentive schemes, such as signing contracts for differences, was limited.

• Stockholding obligations: imposing stockholding obligations help guaranteeing that storing filling targets can be achieved. However, when positive market price signals incentivise market participants to store gas, there is the risk they can reduce the overall flexibility of the gas system (if stockholding obligations account for the largest part of the storage capacity).

• Last resort storage entities: appointing an entity to provide storage filling of last resort contributes to safeguard security of supply, in case the market would not act, but it comes at a cost. The mechanism should be made more efficient by planning when the entity should act, volume requirements, and introducing risk reduction mechanisms (e.g. price hedging by the designated entity).

• Use-it-or-lose-it mechanisms: implementing these mechanisms enabled the swift release of booked but unused capacity and contributed considerably to storage filling.

The report further concluded that some measures are in need of greater transparency and verifiability.

The report also found that:

• Member States without underground storage facilities made efforts to store gas in neighbouring countries but the remaining technical and commercial constraints should be addressed, by strengthening coordination between Member States with and without storage and finding ways to enhance regional solidarity.

• All Member States with underground gas storage facilities met the filling target obligations. Measures implemented by Member States helped overcome negative market signals during the 2022 injection period and contributed to achieve adequate levels of stored gas.

• In 2022, the Member States’ underground facilities collectively stored over 630 TWh of gas as result of the measures. This amount represents approximately 53% of the European Union’s total aggregated storage capacity.

What are the next steps?

As a next step, the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) will undertake another study on storage burden-sharing mechanisms and identification of best practices and recommendations to enhance the efficiency of storage filling obligations.

Access the report and the slides  summarising the most important findings.

8 March 2024 update: Access the second part of the study. 

With gas markets being impacted by a global pandemic (2020) and a European energy crisis (2022), the resilience of the current market rules (also known as “network codes”) has been tested. Although they have mostly ensured a proper market functioning (see ACER’s Market Monitoring Reports and congestion reports), lessons have yet to be learned to further enhance market resilience.

The European gas market must also ensure its readiness to align with the latest policy and technological developments, guaranteeing that the decarbonisation targets set by the Green Deal can be met.

Against this background, the latest European Gas Regulatory Forum (also known as “Madrid Forum”) has recently emphasised the importance of having gas market rules which can adequately reflect this evolution, and therefore prompted for the revision of the Capacity Allocation Mechanisms Network Code (“CAM NC”).

What is the Capacity Allocation Mechanisms Network Code?

The rules for allocating gas transmission capacity have been in place since 2017, when the current version of the Network Code on Capacity Allocation Mechanisms was adopted.

These market rules harmonise how network users can utilise the gas transmission network to enter or exit a market, and how these capacity rights can be obtained.

What is the role of ACER?

As a first step, ACER is planning a public consultation (opening on Tuesday 14 November 2023) and workshop (on Tuesday 12 December 2023) to take stock of what works under the current market rules and collect views from stakeholders on the way forward.

ACER will benefit from this information when it may recommend amendments to the CAM NC in the course of 2024.

What are the next steps? Save the dates!

ACER is launching a public consultation on the “Capacity Allocation Mechanisms Network Code: achievements and the way forward”, which will run from Tuesday 14 November 2023 until Friday 5 January 2024.

On Tuesday 12 December 2023, ACER will also organise an online workshop on the same topic. Registrations will open on Tuesday 14 November 2023.

The event aims to:

• debate the achievements and possible areas of improvement of the CAM NC; and

• provide stakeholders with the opportunity to present their views.

ACER also intends to publish a policy paper, tentatively in the first quarter of 2024, to follow up on any identified areas of improvement. This policy paper will be a first input when the formal review of the CAM NC may be launched in the course of 2024.

On 26 September 2023, ACER initiated a procedure to decide on the Transmission System Operators’ (TSOs) proposal on the alternative bidding zone configurations for the Baltic region. After having received the results of the Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) analysis carried out by the Baltic TSOs, ACER is now in a position to start this decision-making process.

Why review the bidding zone configurations?

A bidding zone is the largest geographical area within which market participants are able to exchange energy without allocating capacity. Currently, bidding zones in Europe are mostly defined by national borders. However, the existing European electricity target model requires defining bidding zones based on network congestions. Better defined bidding zone configurations, i.e. whose borders are based on long-term, structural congestions, can bring several benefits, including:

• increased opportunities for cross-zonal trade,

• more efficient network investments, and

• cost-efficient integration of new technologies.

To initiate the review process, all involved TSOs need to submit a proposal for:

• the methodology and assumptions that should be used, and

• the alternative configurations of bidding zones that relevant national regulatory authorities (NRAs) should analyse and approve unanimously.

What is the role of ACER?

The bidding zone review process initiated in October 2019; however, the TSOs’ initial proposal lacked alternative bidding zone configurations for a large part of Europe. They were therefore requested by the NRAs to submit an updated version of the proposal, which was then referred to ACER for decision (July 2020).

As a following step, ACER issued two separate decisions:

• In November 2020, ACER approved the bidding zone review methodology and assumptions, and requested TSOs to carry out an LMP analysis.

• In August 2022, following provision of information, ACER decided on the alternative bidding zone configurations to be analysed in the review process for all EU Member States, except for those of the Baltic region. This decision was deferred due to lack of data.

Following the submission of the results of the LMP analysis by the Baltic TSOs, ACER is now able to decide also on the alternative bidding zone configurations for the Baltic region.

What are the next steps?

ACER will adopt this decision by 26 December 2023.

To take an informed decision, ACER will consult with TSOs and NRAs.

Access the public notice.

ACER publishes today its Opinion on the draft regional lists of proposed electricity projects of common interest (PCIs) and projects of mutual interest (PMIs).

PCIs were introduced by the 2013 TEN-E Regulation. PCIs are infrastructure projects which benefit from accelerated permitting procedures and funding as they are identified as key contributors to achieving the EU’s energy and climate objectives, as set by the European Green Deal. The recent 2022 revision to the TEN-E Regulation introduced hydrogen projects as an eligible category for PCI status (see ACER Opinion on the draft regional lists of proposed hydrogen PCIs/PMIs 2023).

The revision also introduced the concept of PMIs. These are projects promoted by the EU in cooperation with third countries and are recognised as enabler of the energy transition (and therefore also benefit of accelerated permitting procedures).

The list of PCIs and PMIs is constructed by the European Commission and the Member States every two years. This is the first list under the revised Regulation.

Under the TEN-E Regulation, ACER:

• provides input to the Regional Groups during the assessment of candidate projects in coordination with National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), and

• assesses the draft regional lists and provides an Opinion to the Commission on the consistent application of the criteria and the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) across regions.

What are the key findings?

ACER’s Opinion identifies three key areas of improvement:

• Selection process: the selection process would benefit from ensuring that the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) is finalised before the assessment of PCIs and PMIs starts, as well as from greater transparency. The latter can be achieved by:

  • Releasing all key data and information to stakeholders before the project assessment starts.

  • Making the comments received in the public consultation on the candidate projects publicly available.

  • Informing stakeholders about the key elements of the methodologies used for the selection, and consulting with them in a timely manner.

  • Clearly explaining the reasoning for the inclusion or exclusion of the candidate projects from the draft PCIs and PMIs lists in the document submitted to ACER.

• How infrastructure needs are identified: base the discussion on the identification of infrastructure needs on the ENTSO-E’s needs analysis and calculations – e.g. the needed target capacities per border.

• Selection methodology: ACER proposes that the selection methodology could be improved by:

  • Considering multiple scenarios for the assessment.

  • Introducing a simplified methodology for assessing those projects that are in their early stages.

  • Using the monetised benefits as a basis of the methodology, while other drivers, such as the fulfilment of wider EU policy objectives, could be considered as a separate step.

ACER concludes that it is unable to assess the consistent application of the criteria of the TEN-E Regulation and the cost-benefit analysis across all the candidate projects. This is due to the lack of transparency in the implementation of the selection methodology and the lack of consideration of multiple planning scenarios.

What are the next steps?

ACER’s Opinion will be taken into consideration by the Regional Groups to finalise the PCIs/PMIs list. The Commission will then decide on the list by 30 November 2023.

Access the Opinion (annex)