ESO supports the launch of new electricity market arrangements for Ireland and Northern Ireland
5 Oct 2018 - 1 minute read
This week has seen the successful launch of a new electricity market arrangement for Ireland and Northern Ireland.
National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has worked closely with other transmission system operators to support the successful launch of the Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM); an innovative new scheme that will enable the flow of energy across borders and allow greater penetration of intermittent, renewable energy sources.
With the rising share of renewable generation across Europe, trading electricity between countries has become increasingly important. The intermittent nature of renewables has led to a need to be able to sell surplus electricity and cover shortfalls closer to real time.
The island of Ireland is the last region in North Western Europe to join the day-ahead trading arrangements. The day-ahead market coupling process now couples across more than 40 cross-border interconnectors and 21 countries, representing 90% of European electricity consumption.
This form of market is mandated by European regulation and Great Britain has been fully coupled to the European day-ahead market since 2014.
[1] 1 Figure taken from ENTSO-E - First joint report on the progress and potential problems with the implementation of intraday and day-ahead as well as forward capacity allocation.