Sept 30 - The recent coupling of the Czech-Slovak power
market has boosted trading volumes and could prod other
countries in central and eastern Europe to follow suit.
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Like the rest of Europe, the power exchange landscape in
central and eastern Europe is fragmented but European Union
officials envision a future with one exchange to help drive down
prices for consumers.
The following is a list of power exchanges in central and
eastern Europe that could potentially benefit from market
coupling:
BSP REGIONAL EXCHANGE/BSP SOUTHPOOL
Created by international derivatives exchange Eurex and
Slovenian power market operator Borzen, BSP Southpool offers
spot power trade for the Slovenian and Serbian markets.
Launched in January 2008, 0.002 terawatt hours were traded
on Southpool in its first year of operation.
EXAA
The EXAA Energy Exchange Austria offers a spot market for
electricity delivery in Austria and Germany.
In 2008, the traded volume on EXAA's spot power market
reached 2.49 terawatt hours.
HUNGARIAN POWER EXCHANGE (HUPX)
Transmission system operator initiative MAVIR channels the
central import capacity to state-owned electricity wholesaler
MVM.
POLISH POWER EXCHANGE
The exchange run by Towarowa Gielda Energii SA counts 48
members and trades spot and future power contracts for physical
delivery as well as green certificates.
In 2008 -- when only spot contracts were offered -- 3 TW
hours were traded on the exchange. It expects to trade about 5
TW on the day-ahead and 3 TW to 4 TW of futures contracts in
2009.
POWER EXCHANGE CENTRAL EUROPE (PXE)
Operated by the Prague Stock Exchange, PXE offers power
futures with physical settlement in the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, and Hungary and spot contracts in the Czech Republic
in cooperation with the state-owned market operator OTE.
PXE also offers a daily price index, and hopes to have
financial derivatives by the beginning of 2010. []
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Launched in March 2007, around 32.8 terawatt hours were
traded on the exchange in 2008, according to PXE's annual
report.
ROMANIAN POWER EXCHANGE (OPCOM)
OPCOM is a subsidiary of Romania's grid operator
Transelectrica, and provides day-ahead power market and a market
for bilateral contracts attributed through public auctions.
In 2008, 5.2 terawatt hours and 11.5 terawatt hours were
traded on the respective markets, according to OPCOM's annual
report.
SLOVENSKA ELEKTRIZACNA PRENOSOVA SUSTAVA/INFORMACY SYSTEM
ORGANIZATORA TRHU (SEPS/ISOT)
Slovakia's SEPS runs a day-ahead spot power market in
Slovakia, and the exchange has 16 market participants.
SERPEX
Serbia has said it will seek a partner to set up power
exchange SERPEX, pinning hopes on the country's geographical
position to become more successful than the one in Slovenia
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The Balkan state needs to adopt necessary legislation and
liberalise power market, before the power exchange becomes
operational.
Source: company annual reports, websites.
(Reporting by Kwok W. Wan, Michael Kahn and Ivana Sekularac)
