18.11.2016

ACER decides on the electricity TSOs’ proposal for Capacity Calculation Regions

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​Today ACER has issued a Decision on the electricity Transmission System Operators’ proposal for the determination of the Capacity Calculation Regions (CCRs Proposal) in accordance with Article 9(11) of EU Regulation 2015/1222 on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM Regulation) and Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 713/2009 (the Agency’s Founding Regulation). In this context, ACER confirms also the TSOs’ proposal to create a new bidding zone border between Germany and Austria. 

ACER’s call for a direct merger of the CWE and CEE regions rests on the strong interdependency between the two regions, which, according to point 3.1 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 714/2009, can only be handled with a common congestion management procedure at the level of the two regions. ACER’s confirmation of the TSOs’  proposal to create a new bidding zone border between Germany and Austria is based on the finding that the German-Austrian interconnector can accommodate all physical flows resulting from international trade requested by market participants only at the expense of major structural congestions on the neighbouring borders, but also within Germany. Therefore, the German-Austrian interconnector is to be considered as usually and structurally congested, requiring the implementation of a capacity allocation method pursuant to points 1.2 and 1.4 of the Guidelines annexed to Regulation (EC) No 714/2009.   

The implementation of a new bidding zone border between Germany and Austria should be implemented according to a calendar to be agreed upon by the relevant regulatory authorities and TSOs and at the latest by the time when implementation of flow-based capacity calculation takes places in the merged CWE-CEE capacity calculation region in accordance with the CACM Regulation. 

The definition of bidding zone borders in this Decision is without prejudice to the outcome of the bidding zone review process under Articles 32 to 34 of the CACM Regulation and shall be reviewed if such a process results in a different bidding zone configuration.   Background Information

 

An Agency’s Decision was requested on 17 May 2016 by the Chair of the Energy Regulators’ Forum - i.e. the regulatory authorities’ platform to consult and cooperate for reaching a unanimous agreement on a TSOs’ proposal – after the regulatory authorities, despite their best endeavours, could not reach a unanimous decision on the TSOs’ CCRs Proposal. 


As in its Market Monitoring Report 2015, in today’s Decision the Agency yet again points at unscheduled/loop flows as one of the main obstacles to market integration in the CEE region. The cross-border flows on the German-Austrian border are increasing and represent respectively 54.5% and 42.5% of all cross-border exchanges observed in the CWE and CEE regions in 2015, i.e. the highest volume, of cross-border exchanges observed in the CWE and CEE regions. A significant share (i.e. 58.8% on average) of these exchanges is being realised through the neighbouring CWE and CEE networks and therefore significantly impacts cross-border trade and system security in the whole region.

Access the Decision here​.

Find out more in the ACER Q&A on the Decision.