Intraday trading is now possible between Belgium and Britain on the Nemo Link interconnector.
Trading on the interconnector went live in February this year, allowing the countries to trade power on a long term and day-ahead basis. But as of 14 November 2019, participants are now be able to trade capacity during the day too.
The subsea cables allow the countries to buy up to 1000MW of generation capacity in either direction. This is bought in explicit and/or implicit auctions.
For intraday trading, these auctions will be held four times a day and will be organised by the Joint Allocation Office. These will allow participants to purchase capacity rights for up to six hours.
Intraday trading is particularly important as it helps to balance intermittent renewables, providing extra flexibility to ensure a balanced and secure energy supply. Nick Pittarello, Nemo Link’s customer, policy and regulation manager told Current± that with the renewable sector rapidly growing, the challenge for participants to remain in balance was also increasing.
“The capability to be balanced closer to real time operations is beneficial for market participants as it allows them to take unexpected changes in consumption and production (e.g. due to weather changes or unplanned outages) into account.
“More efficient sharing of energy leads to lower prices for consumers, lower CO2 emissions, and greater system security.”
The Nemo Link has joined the IFA and BritNed interconnectors in joining Britain to continental Europe, whilst the Moyle and East West Interconnectors connect the country to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland retrospectively.
There are a number of further interconnector projects underway, helping to increase the countries energy security. In July, the Viking Link, which will connect Britain and Denmark took a step forwards by announcing the first three suppliers. The 1.4GW link will be the longest in the world, running 472 miles when it is completed in 2023.
Last week, the first planning applications were submitted for the Greenlink interconnector, which will connect Wales and Ireland. This marks a major milestone for the project, that will have a nominal capacity of 500MW and which is aiming for commissioning in 2023.