The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today an opinion providing guidance to the national regulatory authorities (NRAs) on the implementation of electricity long-term transmission rights on the Finnish-Estonian bidding zone border.

What are the long-term transmission rights?

Long-term transmission rights are issued by TSOs and based on their available cross-zonal capacities. They provide cross-zonal trading opportunities for the forward time frames (e.g. month ahead, year ahead) and are issued to improve hedging opportunities where the long-term electricity market cannot provide these sufficiently on its own. Long-term transmission rights can be issued as physical or financial transmission rights, as options or obligations.

What are the main elements of ACER’s opinion?

The opinion clarifies open questions related to the approval process of terms and conditions or methodologies and clarifies requirements on the splitting of long-term cross-zonal capacity.

These clarifications are instrumental for Transmission System Operators (TSOs) on the Finnish-Estonian bidding zone border to start issuing long-term transmission rights.

ACER’s guidance facilitates the implementation of the Finnish and Estonian regulatory authorities’ decision on issuing long-term transmission rights on the relevant bidding zone border. The regulatory authorities based their decision on an assessment showing insufficient hedging opportunities for market participants of the Baltic member states. The aim of ACER’s guidance is for market participants to have access to needed hedging opportunities as soon as possible. 

Read more on ACER’s Opinion.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has decided on the proposal by all Transmission System Operators (TSOs) to amend the common methodology for the pricing of balancing energy and cross-border capacity used for the exchange across the European electricity markets.

In particular, the amendment proposed is related to the technical price limit in the balancing timeframe.

The proposal was submitted to ACER in August 2021.

What are the benefits?

The methodology provides the common rules at European level for an efficient pricing of balancing energy, resulting from:

• balancing energy bids activation
• cross-border capacity used for the exchange of balancing energy.

What are the main elements of ACER’s decision?

ACER amended the TSOs’ proposal and included a transitory price limit of 15,000 €/MWh for the first 4 years of the European balancing platforms’ operations, until July 2026.

ACER understands that efficient market functioning is based on free price formation. As such, the technical price limit of 99,999 €/MWh (see ACER Decision 01/2020) has not changed.

The transitional price limit provides a safeguard for the first years of the European balancing platforms’ operations. This is a temporary measure for mitigating the possible risks of the initial phase of the European balancing platforms’ go-live and to allow TSOs and market participants to gather experience on their functioning. 

TSOs are also requested to closely follow the developments on the European platforms and report to ACER and national regulatory authorities, whenever needed.  

How did ACER contribute?

ACER has ensured that the decision is in line with the objectives of the Electricity Balancing Regulation and fulfils its legal obligations (Article 30(2)), as well as with those of the Regulation on the internal market for electricity.

In its decision, ACER also details the functioning of the European target model for the balancing markets and how this design facilitates the efficient functioning of the European internal electricity markets.

Access the ACER Decision 03/2022.

On 18 February 2022, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) received a proposal from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) regarding the methodology for training and certification of staff working for Regional Coordination Centres (RCCs).

The Electricity Regulation lists the RCCs’ tasks and their roles. Among those tasks, the Regulation mandates the obligation related to the training and certification of its staff. The proposed methodology provides definitions and sets out the RCC training and certification process.

What are the next steps?

ACER will reach a decision on the proposal by 18 May 2022.

In order to inform its assessment, ACER invites interested third parties to submit their observations by 11 March 2022 to ACER-ELE-2022-004(at)acer.europa.eu.

Access the ACER Public Notice.

Access the ENTSO-E proposal and its explanatory document.

In November 2021, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) received a proposal from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) for the first pan-European resource adequacy assessment (ERAA 2021). The purpose of the assessment is to monitor the risks to Europe’s security of electricity supply and identify adequacy concerns.

​​​Following the approval by ACER of the ERAA methodology in October 2020, ENTSO-E must carry out an annual ERAA to assess whether the EU has sufficient electricity resources to meet its future demand. ERAA describes the expected level of security of supply for a ten-year horizon. A resource adequacy concern means that the expected level of risk is higher than the acceptable risk level, as defined by a Member State’s reliability standard.

In the ACER Decision published today, ACER decided to neither approve nor amend the ERAA 2021.

ERAA 2021 was not approved by ACER

While the ERAA 2021 represents a significant improvement to its predecessor (the Mid-Term Adequacy Forecast 2020), ACER has identified a number of shortcomings in the report, compromising its accuracy and reliability. ACER finds that the ERAA 2021, among other issues,

• underestimates the level of profits that resources (e.g. generation and demand-side response) could make in the market;

• underestimates the volume of capacity available for cross-zonal trade; and

• does not recognise the value of demand-side response sufficiently.

ACER considers that:

1. these shortcomings undermine the very purpose of the ERAA 2021 in providing an objective basis for identifying the risks to European security of electricity supply as envisaged in the Clean Energy Package; and

2. the ERAA 2021 overestimates resource adequacy concerns and could lead to incorrect policy decisions with negative implications for the integration of the electricity market and higher costs to consumers.

ERAA 2021 was not amended by ACER

ACER considered amending the ERAA 2021 and concluded that it would not be feasible within the required 3-month decision-making timeframe. An amended ERAA 2021 would have limited value for identifying resource adequacy concerns, essentially for 2025 only, and be based on outdated data. Furthermore, amending the ERAA 2021 would compromise the delivery of a significantly more ambitious ERAA 2022.

The ACER decision provides recommendations for the ERAA 2022, mainly concerning the scenarios, methodology and the assumptions of the assessment (e.g. reflect the EU’s Fit for 55 proposals), and the need for extensive stakeholder engagement. The aim is to help ENTSO-E in preparing the 2022 report to mitigate the risk of similar shortcomings occurring next year and to ensure that the annual ERAAs progressively align with the requirements of the agreed methodology.

Read more on ACER’s Decision No 02/2022.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today an overview of European Gas Wholesale Markets trends in 2021, as an early publication of its annual Market Monitoring Report (MMR).

The MMR presents the results of monitoring the European internal electricity and gas markets and recommends further actions to foster their integration, as well as providing guidance and evidence on how energy markets can perform more efficiently.

In 2022, the MMR will comprise two volumes: one analysing the Gas Wholesale Markets, and the other analysing the Energy Retail Markets and Consumer Protection with expected publications dates of Q3 (July) and Q4 (September) respectively.

What are the main monitoring trends in wholesale gas markets in 2021?

• EU gas demand increased, primarily driven by the economic recovery. However, the record-high gas prices led to some gas-to-coal switching for power generation resulting in a drop in gas consumption for power generation.

Explore the evolution of total gas demand and the link with demand for power generation in individual Member States over the last few years in the interactive gas markets dashboard.

• Meanwhile, gas supply did not keep pace with the increase in demand. Domestic gas production in the EU and United Kingdom continued to decline and European liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports dropped, with modest pipeline supply. In the years to come, LNG will likely play an increasingly relevant role in the European gas supply portfolio.

Investigate the evolution of gas supply per origin and the evolution of European LNG imports over the last few years.

• Limited gas supply led to a higher reliance on underground storage stocks, which reached historically low levels because of higher withdrawals and lower injections.

You can compare underground storage levels over the last few years in our interactive dashboard.

• Wholesale gas prices rose sharply in all countries, but to different degrees. Nevertheless, the strong hub price convergence that was already achieved was not overturned.

Track the development of spot gas prices and price convergence over the last few years.

For the full overview, access the analysis on key Gas Wholesale Markets developments.

What were the main monitoring trends in the Electricity Wholesale Markets in 2021? Find out more.

Deepen your insights (e.g. by country and/or time frame) by exploring our interactive dashboard of dynamic charts of market and trading data.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) publishes today an overview of charts and insights on the main developments of the Electricity Wholesale Markets, as an early publication of its annual Market Monitoring Report (MMR).

The MMR presents the main results of monitoring the European internal electricity and gas markets and recommends further actions to foster their integration, as well as providing guidance and evidence on how energy markets can perform more efficiently.

It normally comprises three volumes analysing respectively: the Electricity Wholesale Market, the Gas Wholesale Market, and the Energy Retail Market and Consumer Protection. 

In 2022, unlike previous years, ACER will not publish a single report gathering all monitored aspects of the Wholesale Electricity Markets in 2021 but a series of brief overviews. This overview is the first of these publications.

What are the main monitoring trends in wholesale electricity markets in 2021?

• Recovery of the electricity demand was driven by the economic recovery. This led to a series of changes in generation technologies. Coal was more used compared to 2020 to meet increased demand. As a result, generation from fossil fuels did not decrease in 2021.

Check the evolution of generation from renewable energy sources compared to fossil fuels by selecting the years 2020 and 2021 in our interactive dashboard.

Generation from renewables was above fossil fuels for the second year in a row and new renewables installed capacity kept on increasing, contributing to the energy transition.

In our dashboard, select the years 2016 - 2021, and see how the installed capacity from renewable and conventional generation technologies has changed over the years.

• A sharp increase in coal generation took place due to the economic recovery driving demand and high gas prices, partially hampering renewables generation growth.

• The well-known sharp increase of electricity wholesale prices in all countries contributed to reinforce coal usage and fostered a debate on consumer protection and empowerment. To different degrees, all European countries have been affected, especially those dependent on gas for a large portion of their electricity generation.

• A constant increase of negative Day Ahead electricity prices compared to pre-pandemic values brings into focus the need for storage and demand side response, and on the importance of consumer empowerment.

See the evolution of day-ahead electricity prices and negative prices over the period 2016 to 2021 in our dashboard.

For the full overview, access the analysis on key Electricity Wholesale Markets developments.

What were the main monitoring trends in the Gas Wholesale Markets in 2021? Find out more.

Deepen your insights (e.g. by country of interest) by interacting with the dynamic charts on electricity market trends.

ACER publishes today its second report on the implementation of the European Union Network Code on Harmonised Transmission Tariff Structures for Gas (NC TAR) for the Danish transmission system.

ACER concludes that the Danish transmission system operator (TSO), Energinet, does not sufficiently demonstrate the compliance of the proposed reference price methodology (RPM) with the requirements of the NC TAR.

What are ACER’s recommendations?

ACER recommends the national regulatory authority (NRA) to further assess the compliance of the proposed RPM with the NC TAR requirements on cost-reflectivity and cross-subsidisation.

The NRA should additionally provide further transparency on a proposed non-transmission emergency supply service and should revise the compliance of the proposed discount to capacity contracted on long-term basis.

ACER also provides additional guidelines on the on-going discussion to merge an upstream pipeline with the Danish transmission network.

In particular, the Report refers to the revenue regulation applicable to transmission assets and to the NC TAR requirements to allocate these costs to the transmission network’s users. 

The Danish NRA shall take a motivated decision on the RPM by 14 May 2022.

Access the report and find out more on the other national tariff consultation documents.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has published a decision requesting further information from Nominated Electricity Market Operators (NEMOs) operating in the Single Intraday Coupling (SIDC) market.

The information is needed for the reconstruction of the trading activity on the Shared Order Book in the SIDC market and thus allowing ACER to fully comply with its mandate of monitoring the wholesale energy markets pursuant to Article 7 of REMIT. The requested information complements the data collected on SIDC according to Article 8 of REMIT.

What are the benefits?

Providing ACER with the relevant information allows the Agency to monitor effectively the European wholesale market’s integrity and transparency, particularly the Single Intraday market, according to REMIT.  

Deterring market participants from manipulating the market, ensuring trust in the functioning of the markets and fostering market integration have the ultimate goal of protecting the interest of companies and consumers.

Access ACER Decision 01-2022.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) finds that ENTSO-E’s winter adequacy assessment is broadly consistent with its mandate and decided not to issue an opinion on it.

However, given the importance of the seasonal assessments and considering the increased public attention triggered by the high energy prices, ACER shares its considerations with ENTSO-E and other stakeholders.

ENTSO-E carries out the seasonal adequacy assessments twice a year to alert Member States and transmission system operators about risks related to the security of electricity supply that potentially might occur in the following six months.

What are the main highlights of ENTSO-E Winter Adequacy Outlook?

On 1 December 2021, ENTSO-E published its Winter Adequacy Outlook 2021/2022.

In the Outlook, ENTSO-E concluded that the current surge of gas prices in Europe should not pose adequacy risks, and that overall, there is no risk to electricity security of supply this winter.

What are ACER’s considerations?

- ACER broadly agrees with ENTSO-E, that the high energy prices likely do not have a direct impact on the short-term security of electricity supply. However, this assessment is subject to adequate gas supplies in Europe.

ACER has analysed ENTSOG’s winter gas supply assessment and emphasized, in its opinion, the value of including additional scenarios based on expected gas supplies.

Because of the interlinked nature of wholesale gas and electricity prices in Europe, it is important that ENTSO-E deepens the coordination with ENTSOG to ensure that inputs and assumptions to the seasonal assessments are consistent and reflective of cross-sectoral impacts.

- ACER observes that, as part of the common European risk-preparedness framework in the electricity sector, the Outlook effectively detects possible adequacy related problems for the winter season, complementing shorter-term regional and national assessments.

In late December 2021 (after the publication of the Outlook), following an additional unplanned outage of 4.5 GW of nuclear capacity, the French transmission system operator (RTE) re-assessed the short-term adequacy of the French power system and found that cold weather combined with low wind supply could strain supply margins during January and February 2022.

ENTSO-E updated its Outlook to provide a pan-European view, confirming that the new development in the French system had no anticipated adverse impact on neighbouring countries.

ACER recommends that these events are reflected in the Winter Review 2021/2022 published along with the next seasonal assessment. Such an ex-post comparison would give meaningful insight with respect to the completeness and accuracy of the ex-ante assessment.

- Lastly, ACER believes that an opinion on the Outlook would not bring significant new information, considering its involvement in the approval and in the implementation of the underlying methodology (through prior opinions).

The Outlook represents ENTSO-E’s fourth seasonal adequacy assessment delivered on the basis of the approved methodology. ACER has supported the implementation of the methodology by following up on the previous Outlooks by issuing opinions containing a set of recommendations.

As outlined in its latest opinion, ACER expects that the next seasonal assessment (Summer Outlook 2022) will fully comply with the approved methodology.

ACER, in close coordination with ENTSO-E and the national regulatory authorities, will continue to follow potential adequacy risks manifesting in the European electricity system.

Read more.

The National Regulatory Authorities of the Core region asked the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to decide on the first amendment of the intraday capacity calculation methodology (LT CCM) for the region.

The Core region comprises 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The Core day-ahead capacity calculation methodology includes a new approach for the long- term allocation (LTA) inclusion, called Extended LTA Inclusion (ELI). The proposed amendment allows the intraday capacity calculation to accommodate the principles of ELI approach and therefore enabling the compatibility of the day-ahead and intraday capacity calculation methodologies.

What are the next steps?

The ACER’s Decision 02/2019 will be amended to enable the harmonisation of the capacity calculation principles at intraday level with the Core day-ahead capacity calculation methodology.

To take an informed decision, ACER invites interested stakeholders to submit their views by 2 March 2022 to the email: ACER-ELE-2022-002(at)acer.europa.eu.

This amendment of the intraday capacity calculation methodology is the prerequisite for the implementation of the Core Day-ahead flow-based methodology. Therefore, it needs to be completed under the fast procedure, before the Core Day-ahead flow-based market coupling (Core FB MC) will go-live (20 April 2022).

ACER expects to reach its decision by 13 April 2022, before the Core Day-ahead flow-based capacity calculation methodology would enter into force.

What are the benefits?

The cross-border capacity calculation methodology promotes effective short‐term cross‐zonal trade.

The amended intraday capacity calculation methodology for the Core region will apply the flow-based approach, fully coordinated with the day-ahead flow-based capacity calculation approach.

The amended ACER’s Decision will contribute to the effectiveness and integration of the Core electricity markets by establishing the common rules for calculating the intraday cross-zonal capacity at regional level.