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New Electricity Regulation

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​solar panels in front of trees and skyscrapersThe new Electricity Regulation aims to adapt the existing market rules to new emerging market realities.

 
The new Regulation (which is a recast of Regulation EC/714/2009) provides a set of fundamental principles for well-functioning, integrated electricity markets. It includes general rules for the electricity market and covers in detail network access and congestion management, resource adequacy, transmission system operators, distribution system operators and network codes and guidelines.

 
Regional Coordination Centres and the implementation of system operation regions
 
The new Electricity Regulation foresees the establishment of Regional Coordination Centres (RCCs), replacing the regional security coordinators established by the System Operation Guideline. Their tasks include: 
  • supporting the consistency assessment of transmission system operators' defence and restoration plans, ensuring an effective application of the Emergency and Restoration Network Code's procedure,
  • supporting the coordination and optimisation of regional restoration,
  • carrying out post-operation and post disturbances analysis, and
  • reporting and identifying regional electricity crisis scenarios.
Since RCCs will start operating by 1 July 2022, the Regulation requires the definition of their geographical scope through a proposal for system operation regions by 5 January 2020. The proposal must specify which transmission system operators, bidding zones, bidding zone borders, capacity calculation regions and outage coordination regions are covered by each of the system operation regions.​
 
The activities of RCCs will be coordinated across regional boundaries, while the day-to-day coordination within and between the RCCs will be managed by cooperation processes among the transmission system operators of the region, as well as by arrangements between the RCCs.

 

Find out more about the proposal for System Operation Regions

By 5 Janua​ry 2020, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) must submit to ACER a proposal specifying which transmission system operators, bidding zones, bidding zone borders, capacity calculation regions and outage coordination regions are covered by each of the system operation regions. The proposal shall take into account the grid topology, including the level of interconnection and interdependency of the electricity system in terms of flows and the size of the region (covering at least one capacity calculation region).

 
Action 1: From October to November 2019, ENTSO-E has conducted a public consultation on its proposal for System Operation Regions (SOR). Find out more on ENTSO-E's website.

 
Action 2: On 6 January 2020, ENTSO-E submitted the SOR proposal to ACER. Find out more about the ENTSO-E proposal for System ​Operation Regions​ and the Explanatory​ document​ accompanying the proposal.

 
Action 3: ​On 6 January 2020, ACER opened a public consultation​ for all stakeholders on ENTSO-E proposal.

 
Action 4: Within three months following the receipt of the proposal, ACER shall approve or amend it. In case of any amendments, ACER shall consult ENTSO-E before adopting any changes.

 
Action 5: ACER shall publish the adopted proposal on its website.

 
​Guaranteed cross-border capacity levels and temporary exemptions

Since 1 January 2020, following the revision of the ​El​ectricity Regulation, Transmission System Operators (TSOs) have the obligation to reach a minimum level of cross-zonal capacity to facilitate electricity trading across countries.

When Member States or TSOs cannot comply with their obligations, they can, among other options, establish an action plan, or ask for a derogation.

Derogations allow TSOs more time to implement the necessary measures and being compliant, and they are granted for maximum two years. Action plans provide time to address structural network constraints, possibly requiring investment, over a longer time horizon (5 years). National regulatory authorities can grant derogations, while action plans are provided by the Members State.

To facilitate the monitoring of the European electricity market, the Agency is compiling all the derogations and action plans granted, as well as collecting relevant documents.