Nord Pool Spot has received the following information from the ENTSO-E Nordic Regional Group of Operation
The Nordic TSOs informed the market players about the common Nordic ramping rules in Exchange information No. 53/2007 ’Extended use of ramping on HVDC links’. In practice the ramping restriction was implemented in the Elspot market for Kontek, KontiSkan and Skagerrak and bilateral day-ahead trade over Swepol and Baltic. The intention is that the restriction shall be used for all commercial trade between the Nordic synchronous system and the Continental Europe. Consequently the restriction was implemented also in the Elbas market, Exchange information No. 53/2009 ’Ramping rules in the Elbas market’ in May 2009.
The Nordic TSOs certainly acknowledge that the ramping restrictions reduce the transmission capacity available for the market and due to that the TSOs look for potentially better alternatives to maintain the system security. There are however pros and cons for all alternatives as for the current ramping restriction in the energy markets and also costs involved for all alternatives. The goal should be to find the socioeconomic optimal solution.
For the Elspot market the TSOs have been working with impact analysis of the current ramping rules for some time now. The work is carried out in cooperation with Nord Pool Spot. To include a minimum of variation in market conditions in the analysis, it has been necessary to analyse a certain time period. The Nordic TSOs plan to publish a report about our findings where the Nordic TSOs also evaluate alternative solutions for handling of ramping.
For the Elbas market the time to gain experiences has been limited. The Nordic TSOs are aware that the current manual handling of capacity restrictions is not optimal and are in dialogue with Nord Pool Spot, whether a more sophisticated method taking contracted trade into account could be implemented.
The Nordic TSOs also work with other means to improve operational security that may relieve the ramping problem. Some of those are already implemented and others are planned to be implemented in the coming years. To discuss these and other related topics with the stakeholders, the ENTSO-E Nordic Regional Group of Operation plans to arrange a work-shop with market participants next spring.
Lysaker, 4 November 2009
For further information, please contact:
Ole Jan Olesen, Energinet.dk, phone +45 44 87 39 11
Björn Rydell, Svenska Kraftnät, phone +46 8 475 8226
Gunnar Nilssen, Statnett, phone +47 2252 7422
Jyrki Uusitalo, Fingrid, phone +358 30 395 5181