Energy: a historic turning point in the European spot market!
On Tuesday, a historic milestone was reached: the shift from hourly intervals to 15-minute intervals.rn
- rn t
- A development designed to better reflect the reality of production and consumption, and to integrate the intermittency of renewables.
n
rn rn
- rn t
- Economically, this new time step will generate a more precise price signal, encouraging market participants to adapt more efficiently.
n
rnFrom now on, prices will be set every quarter hour:rn- more pronounced fluctuationsrn- shorter price spikesrn- and potentially lower intraday volumes, particularly at the first auctionnnHowever, this change is not without risk: moving from 24 to 96 price blocks makes the work of exchanges and operators more complex, with IT systems needing to adapt to this increased flow.
Moreover, this segmentation could fragment liquidity: fewer participants per quarter hour means lower volumes per block.
Since yesterday, volatility has increased significantly, but for experts, this is a temporary effect: the market should gradually adapt.
For example, on Tuesday, October 1 at 7 p.m., SPOT prices in Germany reached €408/MWh before dropping to €253/MWh 45 minutes later.
This represents a major change that the market and its participants must absorb.
The head of coupling also points out that this new time step generated a massive influx of orders as early as Tuesday, highlighting the scale of this change for market participants.
A decisive step toward greater flexibility… and a real test for the integration of renewables in Europe.
