In recent years, Europe has made great strides in cross-border power trading. By coupling markets from Portugal to the Baltics and from Italy to the Scandinavian north, trading across bidding zones has become efficient and reliable at the same time. Before this compartmentalization of the continent, trading occurred mainly within national borders. But what exactly constitutes a bidding zone? ACER defines bidding zones as “the largest geographical area in which market participants are able to exchange energy without capacity allocation”, stating that, in Europe, most zones are determined by national borders, while some countries have multiple zones within their own borders or share a zone with other countries.
Trading across bidding zones is fundamental for ramping up the share of renewables in the system, which - in turn - comes with the challenge of forecast fluctuations and sporadic adjustments to relieve physical congestion in the grid. One such measure of adjustment is the so-called countertrading. Countertrading occurs whenever too much energy is traded over bidding zone borders due to regulatory requirements or unexpected outages of connected assets. Excess energy must then be traded back between bidding zones to keep the power grid balanced and ensure the security of supply. For instance, in the Nordics, this used to be primarily done through a regulatory mechanism known as special regulation. However, since the scheme excluded surrounding countries, Denmark introduced a methodology in 2022 to phase out special regulation handlings of structural countertrade needs that are known well in advance. This scheme change not only enhances the overall efficiency, accessibility, and transparency but, according to case-specific calculations, also saves one million tons of CO2 per year.
As Denmark’s energy transmission system operator, Energinet makes use of countertrading to keep the national grid stable. Given the volatile complexity of the intraday market, adding expert market intelligence to navigate the trading world is an informed next step. And this is where enspired comes in, assembling passionate individuals with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the algorithmic trading of renewable energy and flexible assets. The enspired trading solution will be tailored to Energinet specifications to recirculate countertrade volumes in the market. “We are delighted to shape the green future in Denmark and beyond together with Energinet,” Mario Schmoltzi, enspired co-founder and project lead, says of the partnership, which is expected to significantly advance the state of the Danish intraday market as participants small and large will have the opportunity to trade their flexibility and support the transition to green power.
“enspired has presented a strong team, and Energinet is confident that they will be able to develop an efficient and solid solution for us as a customer. Energinet is looking forward to working on the development of the intraday countertrade trading together with enspired,”Johannes Bruun, Director Electricity Market at Energinet, says in response. In a combined effort to accelerate the energy transition, this project materialises the perfect symbiosis of Energinet’s balancing strength and enspired’s trading competence.
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of the latest developments in the energy revolution.