Summary of stakeholder reference group meeting 14 September 2021
On 14 September, the NBM program held its third meeting in 2021 with the NBM stakeholder reference group.
The meeting started with a presentation of the NBM roadmap. Stakeholders were informed that the go-live of the Norwegian aFRR capacity market has been postponed one month until the end of November 2021.
There was also a discussion on the Nordic aFRR capacity market and its dependence on the development of the method for flow-based capacity calculation. It is a legal requirement that capacity should be calculated with sufficient quality using the flow-based method for three consecutive months in the external parallel run before the Nordic market can go-live. The TSOs presented their work and results from the flow-based project and gave the stakeholders an in-depth explanation of the dependencies. Updated information on dependencies and development will be presented at the next meeting in November.
Stakeholders were also informed that everything is on track for the go-live of single price on 1 November. The final piece of the puzzle is to get decisions from all NRAs on the updated terms and conditions. The imbalance price will be published on the European transparency platform from go-live. The Regulators have stated that they aim to handle all decisions in due time.
The TSOs presented their work on ’shadow operation’ for mFRR EAM. The purpose of shadow operation is to use the new balancing model in real time and compare results with those of the existing balancing model. Up till now, focus has been on balancing volumes, and the next step is to look at the bid selection process. One finding so far is that balancing volumes will be more volatile in the future with the new model. Stakeholders asked for information on total volumes expected. The TSOs will prepare estimates of this and encouraged stakeholders to further specify the kind of information that would be useful for them in order to prepare for the new market. The TSOs also presented results from a survey on BSP market readiness for the mFRR energy activation market. The overall conclusion is that more focus on stakeholder communication and support is needed in all four countries.
Stakeholders learned about European Energy Communication (ECP) and its crucial role in the NBM program. All market communication for NBM markets will use ECP. So will the European balancing markets, MARI and PICASSO, making the transition as easy as possible for balance service providers (BSP).
The TSOs presented the Nordic and local status of the 15-minute ISP project. The project as a whole is very dependent on the mFRR EAM project. A Nordic webinar will be held by year-end.
Stakeholders were encouraged to answer the consultation for the derogation application regarding accession to European balancing platforms MARI and PICASSO. The decision is national, but regulators will take into account that derogation is an interdependent Nordic process.
The Norwegian regulator stated that they are analysing the consequences of past decisions following the Norwegian approval of the Electricty Balancing regulation. NordREG are following the ongoing European process on pricing methodology and the development of the new RCC organisation, replacing the existing RSC organisation.
TSOs encourage stakeholders to propose topics for future meetings. The next meeting will be held 30 November 2021.