Allocation on the France-Belgium interconnection Intra-day allocation mechanism Information note
Table of contents 1.
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 2
2.
Product characteristics....................................................................................................... 2 2.1. Basis principles.......................................................................................................... 2 2.2. The gates.................................................................................................................... 2 2.3. Stages for each gate ................................................................................................... 4 2.3.1 Publication of the available capacity ................................................................. 4 2.3.2 Introduction of the requests for intra-day capacity............................................ 4 2.3.3 Allocation of the available capacity .................................................................. 4 2.3.4 Nomination by the participants to each TSO..................................................... 6 2.3.5 Matching and confirmation of the nominations by the TSOs............................ 6
3.
Contractual aspects............................................................................................................ 6
4.
Operational aspects............................................................................................................ 7
**** DISCLAIMER **** The content of this document is purely informative. Elia and RTE reserve the right to adapt or modify the content at any time. Elia and RTE do not take any responsibility nor liability for the said content or for the consequences of any action taken on the basis of the information provided.
1. Introduction Elia and RTE set up a joint intra-day allocation mechanism at the France-Belgium interconnection and, on both side, the related nomination procedures. These mechanisms have for objective to allow market participants to correct within the day their day-ahead position, with a complementary import and/or export, in case of unforeseen physical changes or for new economical arbitrage. This new facility brings, among others: -
a better flexibility for the balance responsible parties to face unforeseen changes,
-
an optimized use of the available capacity.
The present document summarizes the main characteristics of this new facility. This document is purely informative. Rights and obligations are governed by the IFB Rules (for what concerns allocation), the ARP-Contract (for what concerns nomination on Elia’s side) and the I/E Rules (for what concerns nomination on RTE’s side).
2. Product characteristics 2.1.
Basis principles
The new allocation mechanism allows explicit intra-day allocations of capacity on the FranceBelgium interconnection, in both direction of the interconnection, at several moment of the day (the so-called gates). These allocations are performed by RTE, as “Joint Operator”, in the name of both TSOs, according to an iterative prorata mechanism. The intra-day nomination procedures allow the participant to nominate an intra-day import and/or export: -
within the limit of the allocated capacity,
-
between France and Belgium in one direction or the other,
-
at a given gate.
The participant who asks and gets capacity is also the party who will nominate it on both side of the interconnection, to Elia and RTE. In accordance with the « Use it or lose it » principle, the capacity that is not nominated within the gate deadlines will be lost without compensation and made available for the next gate. The allocated intra-day capacity is free for the participants.
2.2.
The gates
The intra-day allocations take place at several moments of the day, the so-called gates. For each gate, the following stages take place as illustrated here below: 1.
publication of the available capacity by the TSOs,
2.
submission by the participants of the requests for intra-day capacity (strictly speaking, the gate is identified as the limit hour for entering requests for intra-day capacity),
3.
allocation, by hourly period, of the available capacity,
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4.
nomination, by hourly period, by the participants to each TSO,
5.
matching and confirmation of the nominations by the TSOs.
Figure 1 – Gate stages
Each gate deals with all the remaining hours (also called the delivery period).
Figure 2 – Gates dynamics and delivery periods
Twelve gates are available at the following hours: Gate (G)
Time limit for the sending of “Intraday Access Authorisations”
Time limit for the receiving of nominations by TSOs
(G + 30 min.)
(G + 1Hr)
Time limit for the sending of nominations confirmations by TSOs
Delivery Period
(G + 1Hr 45) D-1 21:00
D-1 21:30
D-1 22:00
D-1 22:45
00:00 – 24:00
D-1 23:00
D-1 23:30
00:00
00:45
01:00 – 24:00
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01:00
01:30
02:00
02:45
03:00 – 24:00
03:00
03:30
04:00
04:45
05:00 – 24:00
05:00
05:30
06:00
06:45
07:00 – 24:00
07:00
07:30
08:00
08:45
09:00 – 24:00
09:00
09:30
10:00
10:45
11:00 – 24:00
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:45
13:00 – 24:00
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:45
15:00 – 24:00
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:45
17:00 – 24:00
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:45
19:00 – 24:00
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:45
21:00 – 24:00
Note : The gate of 1 AM will not be available when going from the winter daylight saving time to the summer daylight saving time.
2.3.
Stages for each gate
2.3.1
Publication of the available capacity
The available capacity is published on Elia and RTE joint webpage, accessible from the TSOs’ respective websites. Requests for intra-day capacity can however be introduced before this publication. The available capacity put at the disposal of an intra-day allocation takes into account the net value of the nominations related to earlier timeframes. 2.3.2
Introduction of the requests for intra-day capacity
A request for intra-day capacity is submitted for a given direction of the interconnection and for a given gate. It relates to all the hourly periods of the delivery period corresponding to the gate. The capacity requested may vary from one hourly period to another. The request for intra-day capacity must be notified: -
from 2 PM in D-1 for the first gate (the gate of 9 PM) or after the hour of the earlier gate 1 in the other cases ; and
-
before the hour of the given gate.
A participant may have a maximum of one active request for intra-day capacity by gate and direction of the interconnection. 2.3.3
Allocation of the available capacity
Intra-day capacity is allocated by hourly period, for a given gate, in proportion to the numbers of participants for that gate and to the requests for intra-day capacity, in accordance with an iterative algorithm favouring small requests. This algorithm is illustrated, for a given gate and hourly period, in the next example.
1
for reminder, the gate being defined as the limit hour for entering requests for intra-day capacity.
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1rst iteration
2nd iteration
3rd iteration
Available capacity
950
(950 – 670) = 280
(280 – 279) = 1
Number of requests
5
3
3
Maximum capacity attributed for a participant
190
93
0
Request
Attributed capacity
Attributed capacity
Participant 1
25
25
25
Participant 2
75
75
75
Participant 3
500
190
93
283
Participant 4
500
190
93
283
Participant 5
500
190
93
283
Total
1600
670
279
949
Allocated capacity
Figure 3 – Allocation example In this example, and for the given hourly period: - the available capacity is 950 MW ; - the request of participant 1 is 25 MW ; - the request of participant 2 is 75 MW ; - the requests of participant 3, 4 and 5 are each 500 MW. The available capacity is divided by the number of participants (for the first iteration: 950 MW/5=190 MW) to determine the maximum of capacity that could be attributed to each participant during this first iteration. Each participant receives the minimum between this limit and its requests : the requests of participants 1 et 2, that are smaller than this limit, are immediately fulfilled, while the requests of the other participants (3, 4 et 5) are only satisfied for 190 MW each. The sum of the attributed capacities after this iteration (670 MW) being smaller than the total available capacity (950 MW), a second iteration takes place to attribute the rest of the available capacity (950 MW – 670 MW = 280 MW) to the participants from which the requests are not yet fully satisfied (3). The iterations stop when, out of rounding effects, all the available capacity has been allocated (after the second iteration in the present example).
The iterative algorithm is thus based on following initial data: -
the available capacity for the given gate and hourly period,
-
the initial volume of each request for intra-day capacity for the given gate and hourly period,
-
the number of requests for intra-day capacity for the given gate and hourly period.
It includes, for each hourly period of the given delivery period, the following stages: 1. the « allocation threshold » for the iteration is calculated i.e. the integer quotient resulting from the division of the capacity still to be allocated by the number of requests not yet fully satisfied ; 2. the quantity attributed to each request, for the iteration, is the minimum between the not yet satisfied capacity for that request and the allocation threshold ;
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3. the capacity that remains to be allocated at the end of the iteration is the difference between the capacity that remained to be allocated at the beginning of the iteration and the sum of the attributed quantities during the iteration ; 4. the iterative process stops when the capacity that remains to be allocated is smaller that the number of requests not yet fully satisfied (the next iteration would lead to a zero threshold). After the allocation, the allocated capacity is notified to the participant with an « intra-day access authorization ». 2.3.4
Nomination by the participants to each TSO
In order to use the capacity it has received, the participant has to nominate the corresponding import or export to both TSOs within the allocated capacity. Nominations are submitted in respect of the « strict one-to-one » rule : the participant who has obtained capacity is also the party who will nominate on both sides of the border. 2.3.5
Matching and confirmation of the nominations by the TSOs
Elia and RTE will check that nominations received on both side are equal, for each hourly period, before confirming them to the participants. RTE and Elia guarantee the firmness of the allocated capacities and of the confirmed nominations.
3. Contractual aspects As illustrated here below, the use of the intra-day allocation and nomination facility is subject to the rights and obligations mentioned in: -
the IFB Rules 1.3 : for what concerns allocation,
-
the new version of the ARP-Contract : for what concerns nomination at Elia’s side,
-
the I/E Rules 2.1 : for what concerns nomination at RTE’s side.
Figure 4 - Contractual structure
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To be allowed to participate to the intra-day allocations and to nominate the corresponding import/export, the market actors must thus: -
-
be entitled in respect of the IFB Rules and in particular : o
be signatory of an ARP-Contract with Elia,
o
be signatory of the I/E Rules with RTE,
have, in the framework of the I/E Rules, an intra-day transaction attached to a Balance Responsible perimeter in France
Concretely, no new signature will be needed for the market actors already entitled in respect of the IFB Rules to be able to use this new intra-day facility. In case a market actor does not participate to an existing intra-day allocation mechanism on one of the French border, he will have to fulfil the annex 5 of the I/E Rules and send it back to RTE, in order to have an intraday transaction.
4. Operational aspects To send the request for intra-day capacity, an Excel macro is put at disposal by RTE. This macro enables also the participant to send its nomination to RTE. For the nomination to Elia, a new webpage has been developed on Elia’s E-Nominations website, as a new XML message, in coherence with the present principles of the application.
Figure 5 – New nomination webpage at Elia
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