A kick-off meeting between the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool Spot AS, Finestlink Oy, Latvenergo AS and the Estonian transmission system operator (TSO) OÜ Põhivõrk to launch a joint market project was held in Tallinn today 16 November. The aim of the project is to establish a day-ahead market Elspot and an intraday market Elbas in one or more of the Baltic countries. More participants are expected to join the project during the coming weeks.
The initial task is to create a Nord Pool Spot price area quoting hourly prices at the southern part of the Estlink cable, a submarine cable connecting Estonia and Finland. This would allow for a more market oriented utilization of Estlink, as a share of the capacity on the cable will be made available to the market via Nord Pool Spot’s implicit auction.
Chairman of the steering committee Mr Karri Mäkelä, estimates that a price area could be established by the end of the third quarter 2008. A complete integration of the Baltic area into the Nord Pool Spot market area is estimated to take another 18 to 24 months.
“If we could introduce implicit auction for parts of the Estlink capacity we would create a win-win situation – both for the cable owners via better utilization of the cable and for the Baltic and Nordic countries, increasing the competition in the power market,” Mäkelä claims.
About Nord Pool Spot AS
The power exchange Nord Pool Spot, consisting of Nord Pool Spot AS and its wholly owned subsidiary Nord Pool Finland Oy, organizes the physical trade of electricity, the day-ahead market Elspot in the Nordic countries and KONTEK in German. In addition, Nord Pool Spot operates the intra day market Elbas in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Nord Pool Spot is a part of the Nord Pool Group and is owned 20% by Nord Pool ASA and the Nordic Transmission System Operators: Statnett SF, Svenska Kraftnät, Fingrid Oyj and Energinet.dk own 20 % each.
Nord Pool Spot provides a market place to producers, distributors, industrial companies, energy companies, trading representatives, large consumers and TSOs on which they can buy or sell physical power.
More than 300 participants trade on the Nord Pool Spot markets daily. Traded volumes through Nord Pool Spot in 2006 amounted to 249,8 TWh in Elspot and 1,1 TWh in Elbas. This equals more than 60% of the total consumption of electricity in the Nordic countries.
For further information, please contact Nord Pool Spot AS:
Karri Mäkelä, Director Sales and Marketing, Nord Pool Spot AS, tlph +358 9 68404810
Pasi Kuokkanen, Sales Manager Finland, Nord Pool Spot AS, tlph +358 9 68404822