A further significant step towards an integrated European power market was taken recently as the Italian Borders Market Coupling was successfully launched. The Italian-Austrian, Italian-French and Italian-Slovenian borders have now been coupled with the Multi-Regional Coupling (MRC) instrument. Thanks to this coupling, 19 EU power markets – from Finland to Portugal and Slovenia – are now integrated into a single market platform.

On 24 February for the first time, capacity for the Italian-Austrian, Italian-French and Italian-Slovenian borders has been implicitly allocated through the PCR solution for the Day-Ahead markets, making those borders part of the MRC. This full price coupling allows the simultaneous calculation of electricity prices and cross-border flows across the region. This will presumably bring a benefit for end-consumers derived from a more efficient use of the power system and cross-border infrastructures as a consequence of a stronger coordination between energy markets.

With this step, cross-border capacity of all interconnectors within and between the following countries is now allocated in the day-ahead timeframe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland (via the SwePol Link), Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. These 19 countries account for about 2,800 TWh of yearly consumption. The daily average cleared volume over these countries amounts to over 4 TWh, with an average daily value of over €150 million.

The Multi-Regional Coupling (MRC) is a pan-European initiative dedicated to the integration of power spot markets in Europe. It is a cooperation between the Power Exchanges APX, Belpex, EPEX SPOT, Nord Pool Spot and OMIE, and the Transmission System Operators 50Hertz, Amprion, Creos, Elia, Energinet.dk, Fingrid, National Grid, REE, REN, RTE, Statnett, SvenskaKraftnät, TenneT TSO B.V. (Netherlands), TenneT TSO GmbH (Germany) and TransnetBW.

In a separate press release, the Slovenian energy exchange BSP Southpool notes that for BSP the market coupling “offers many new opportunities. We are now open for business to all traders within Europe.”

Anze Predovnik, CEO of BSP SouthPool, says the new situation “i’s like online shopping for electricity but without having to sort out multiple offers and prices. You simply state how much power you want to buy or sell and the system makes sure you get the best price of the day, while also taking care of all the necessary arrangements for the transfer of the purchased electricity back to or out of your home grid.”