Project TERRE is continuing to move forward, with technical changes that allow Great Britain to join and trade using the platform deployed.
Elexon, the body tasked with delivering the Balancing and Settlement Code, said that the technical deployment of the settlement software enabling GB parties to trade on the Project TERRE platform has now been achieved.
However, this “will not be exercised until the market goes live”, Elexon said, which is scheduled for October 2020.
Project TERRE – Trans-European Replacement Reserve Exchange – is designed to establish a replacement reserve balancing product in several participating countries across Europe.
The TERRE auction is run by a central platform, named Libra, which Elexon said optimises the needs posted by the transmission system operators (TSOs) and the bids posted by providers.
GB’s solution is built on existing Balancing Mechanism (BM) procedures, with Elexon implementing P344 Wider Access in December 2019. This opened up the BM to aggregators not affiliated with a licensed energy supplier – called Virtual Lead Parties (VLPs) – with the intention of enabling their participation in TERRE.
It is being lauded as a new revenue stream for GB parties by Elexon due to parties able to offer supply to both the BM and TERRE at the same time.
National Grid ESO is still experiencing delays to implementing the changes to their systems that will enable GB to participate, however. It is expected, as previously announced by the system operator, that this delay will continue until at least the end of October due to “the consequence of constraints and uncertainties owing to the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Elexon and National Grid ESO are therefore working to re-plan their joint industry testing.
The central TERRE platform itself went live on 6 January 2020, with the Czech Republic TSO ČEPS a.s and the Spanish TSO Red Eléctrica de España the first two to join.
The remaining countries – France, Portugal, Poland, Switzerland and Italy – are expected to join in waves throughout 2021/2022.
Mark Bygraves, chief executive of ELEXON, said: “By delivering changes to enable BSC parties to start operating in the European market we are continuing to make new opportunities available to parties and facilitating new energy transition processes for the wider supply of electricity across international borders.
“This is a major achievement and an exciting step in the changes that we are seeing in the industry. “
