Postponement of the Core Flow-Based Market Coupling project Go Live

Amsterdam, Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Bratislava, Brussel, Ljubljana, Luxemburg, Paris, Prague, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb
08 04 2022

Core project parties concluded that the Core go-live planned for 20 April 2022 must be postponed as a go-live on this date could not be supported by some Core project parties.

Market Coupling processes are prepared and Core joint project parties are technically ready in the preparation of their local and central systems and expect to finish remaining activities (last required tests and bilateral contracts) before 20 April 2022.

There are however concerns expressed by some Core NEMOs and TSOs:

• The timing of the Core FB DA go-live considering the current market context - in combination with the other concerns listed below
• The not sufficiently demonstrated stability of the DA pre-market coupling process in Flow-Based DA capacity calculation, and the impact on capacities when fallbacks need to be applied
• The impact on ID ATC capacities, for which the methodology will be known mid-April and for which TSOs possibly need to develop tools for maximising capacities while maintaining system security.
• The issue of undue discrimination triggered by too low capacities provided on critical network elements

Similar concerns were also shared by market parties associations.

Core project parties will monitor the operational stability of the external parallel run closely during the coming weeks and establish in parallel concrete plans to deal with these concerns in a timely manner.

Core project parties will communicate a new go-live date as soon as the concerns are assessed, alleviated and required alignment with other parties (i.e. SDAC) has taken place.

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Market participants who would like to follow closer the project development are invited to join the Core Consultative Group (CCG) by sending an email to CoreCG@magnus.nl. The participants of the Core Consultative Group will receive regular information, and invitations to teleconferences and meetings.

Next to the CCG a Question & Answer Forum for the Core FB MC project is currently in use. The Forum is available under the Core FB MC section on the JAO website, ie. www.jao.eu. Project parties invite all market participants to use this Forum for their queries.

The Core Flow-Based Market Coupling (Core FB MC) project promotes the development and implementation of a flow-based day-ahead market coupling across the whole Core capacity calculation region (Core CCR) in the framework of the Single Day-Ahead Coupling (SDAC). The Core CCR consists of the bidding zone borders between the following EU Member States’ bidding zones: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Market integration - core to energy transition

The energy transition towards a carbon free electricity supply is a European challenge that requires the use of the European electricity system to the full extent. Weather- dependent supply and increasing demand response will lead to a different and more intense use of the grid. The Core market integration project is aiming to create operational preconditions to optimise the use of the system from a regional perspective and make the single European market a reality.

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Communication note 8.4.2022