11 February 2011. Dear Market Participant, As announced last week by the project parties APX-ENDEX, Belpex, Elia and TenneT, we are pleased to confirm that the launch date for the Cross Border Intraday solution for trading on the DutchBelgian border is foreseen for 16/17 February 2011. The Cross Border Intraday solution consists of an implicit allocation mechanism of the intraday cross border capacity based on continuous trading on the intraday markets of APX-ENDEX and Belpex by means of the Elbas trading platform. With this communication Elia and TenneT want to provide you all information concerning the change from the gate-based explicit pro rata allocation mechanism to the continuous implicit allocation from a TSO point of view. More practical information on the change from EuroLight速 to Elbas for the intraday markets of APXENDEX and Belpex has been communicated by the power exchanges on Thursday 10 February 2011.
Launch date The existing intraday trading markets at APX-ENDEX and Belpex (using EuroLight速) will be closed down on Wednesday 16 February 18h00 CET and the new intraday systems at APX-ENDEX and Belpex (using Elbas) will be opened on Thursday 17 February 08h00 CET. This implies the actual start of the implicit continuous cross border intraday allocation.
Explicit allocation mechanism The explicit allocation mechanism jointly organized by Elia and TenneT since May 2009 and governed by the "INB-rules" (the "Rules for Intra-Day Capacity Allocation for the Netherlands- Belgium Interconnection (INB Rules)") will end on Wednesday 16 February 2011 after Gate 17. This means that intraday capacity for Wednesday 16 February 2011 can be requested until 17h00 CET on Wednesday 16 February 2011. Nominations for allocated intraday cross border capacity must be submitted to Elia and TenneT before 18h00 CET Wednesday 16 February 2011. All Intraday HUB nominations can be submitted at Elia until Thursday 17 February 2011 14h00 CET. Regarding the Dutch market, all Intraday HUB nominations must be submitted to TenneT before 18h00 CET Wednesday 16 February 2011. From Thursday 17 February 2011 08h00 CET on the intraday capacity on the Dutch-Belgian border will be allocated implicitly. The access to the Allocation Tool for requesting intraday capacities will be disabled after the last gate on 16 February 2011. The "Rules for Intra-Day Capacity Allocation for the Netherlands- Belgium Interconnection (INB Rules)" will officially be terminated on Wednesday 16 February 2011 after Gate 17.
Nominations Due to the implicit capacity allocation, market parties will no longer have to submit intraday cross border nominations on the Dutch-Belgian border towards Elia and TenneT. All trades on the intraday trading market of Belpex have to be nominated "locally" to Elia's Intraday HUB (until 14h00 CET D+1), as is the case today (counterparty is Belpex). Market parties in the Dutch market have to nominate their domestic intraday trades as well as their intraday cross border trades on the Belgian – Dutch border as Dutch domestic trade in the same way as before, with counterparty APX Gas Zeebrugge BV. The ultimate deadline for sending these nominations is one full clock hour before the start of the hour of delivery, which is equal to all other Dutch domestic trade. However, TenneT prefers to receive nominations as soon as possible after concluding trades on the Elbas platform to avoid long lasting inconsistency in the Dutch market.
Capacity publication The cross border intraday capacities (Intraday ATC values) will be published by Elia and TenneT before they will be made available to the market via the Elbas trading platform (on evening D-1) and will also be available via the Nord Pool Spot website. This should give all active parties the opportunity to update Order prices in case a cross-border price spread would exist.
ARP-contract at Elia The Belgian ARP-contract at Elia was modified to support the change in the allocation mechanism. The modifications were already announced to the ARPs by letter dated 1 February 2011 and will come into effect on Thursday 17 February 2011.
PRP-contract at TenneT No changes have been made to the PRP-contract at TenneT. Each PRP can participate to the implicit allocation mechanism of the intraday cross border capacity on the Dutch-Belgian border, as far as the PRP is a registered member of APX-ENDEX.
The launch date of the XBID solution is still subject to regulatory approval since the approval from Energiekamer, the Dutch regulator, is expected on 15 February 2011. The launch date will be finally confirmed and communicated at the latest on Wednesday 16 February 2011.
For more information, please contact: • Elia: Erik De Schrijver, Key Account Manager ARP (erik.deschrijver@elia.be) • TenneT : servicecentrum@TenneT.eu
With kind regards