News & events

2013-12-10

Intraday market launched in Lithuania

The Nordic and Baltic electricity exchange Nord Pool Spot has opened its Elbas intraday market in Lithuanian and Latvian bidding areas. It is an important step towards the implementation of the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) and the adoption of the operating model of Nord Pool Spot electricity exchange in Lithuania and other Baltic States.
 
An intraday market is an additional tool for market players to trade on the electricity market. Trading on the Elbas market takes place until one hour before the delivery of electricity. Currently, on the Elspot day-ahead market electricity is traded for delivery during the next hour and up to the end of the next day, hour-by-hour. 
 
The intraday market will allow market players to manage the risk of wholesale electricity trade more efficiently and balance the trade of electricity generated from renewable sources. The shorter a period of wind power forecasting, the more precise the forecast is. The possibility to plan future capacities of wind power generation with a greater precision will allow traders to optimise the trade of wind power. On windy days Lithuanian wind parks generate up to 220 MW of electricity per hour and the whole generated wind power is sold on the exchange. In winter seasons wind power makes up under a fifth of all electricity consumed in Lithuania.
 
The Elbas intraday market was set up in 1999. It operates in Nordic countries, Estonia and Germany. Intraday markets are also operated by the electricity exchanges of Belgium and the Netherlands. The intraday market accounts for 1-2% of all wholesale electricity transactions on Nord Pool Spot.