The partnership
Energinet is the Danish national transmission system operator (TSO) for electricity and natural gas. The role of a TSO is not only to secure grid stability and alleviate grid congestion but also to strengthen the competition and welfare in the market. Energinet has developed a methodology on intraday countertrading that was subsequently approved by the Danish Energy Regulator. This methodology has been implemented in close collaboration between Energinet and enspired, who devised a fully tailored on-demand countertrading service for Energinet.
The customer
As a TSO, Energinet handles the operation and development of the national electricity and gas infrastructure, ensuring equal and efficient access for all users. The company plays a key part in the decarbonization of the Danish energy system. Part of this is to establish an efficient market base, including rules for congestion management such as countertrading, while encouraging an effective use of renewable resources. Regulators approved Energinet’s methodology for the intraday procurement of countertrade energy in 2021, following which enspired won the tender to implement the service.
The back story
Countertrading carries relevance at the Danish-German border as it relieves grid congestion following trades from Denmark to Germany, especially on days with strong wind generation. To keep the grid stable, excess energy must be traded back between bidding zones, and this is exactly what the countertrade project is intended for. Geographically, the applicability of the service reaches beyond the Danish-German border.
There is great potential in including other coupled bidding zones in the Nordics to reuse energy more effectively. Leveraging the intraday market to procure countertrading is a logical step as it offers the right infrastructure to distribute energy in the most efficient way. enspired’s countertrading service for Energinet went live in May 2023 and can now be activated in the intraday market on demand every hour for the volume previously transferred to Germany in the day-ahead auction.
“By merging our smart solutions for short-term power market integration with Energinet’s vision for countertrading procurement, we can reach unprecedented levels of flexibility circulation.”
Jürgen Mayerhofer
CEO and Co-founder of enspired
The use case
“The tender was the perfect match for enspired. Both parties saw the need for a shift in the market design, and Energinet showed great initiative in preparing market participants for the shift with workshops, publications and proactive communication,” enspired CEO Jürgen Mayerhofer comments on the compatibility of the collaboration.
“Building on processes and systems on both sides, we established a reliable and secure operational setup. By merging our smart solutions for short-term power market integration with Energinet’s vision for countertrading procurement, we can reach unprecedented levels of flexibility circulation.” With thousands of tradeable megawatts, the project scope extends beyond many previous entries in enspired’s portfolio.
The graph shows the countertrade volume in comparison to the whole market in July 2023. In addition to size, certain regulatory peculiarities also had to be considered in the trading strategy due to Energinet’s role as a TSO. These included strict IT security measures, data protection and REMIT compliance. “Energinet requested a solution that limits distortion of the intraday market while complying with both IT security requirements and REMIT. After 4 months of activity, we are glad to see that the solution is working as expected,” says Johannes Bruun, Director of Electricity Markets at Energinet. “Working with enspired has been very positive and productive so far. The preparation, testing and implementation process went smoothly, and everything was delivered on time.”
The environmental edge
This project shows that the markets have the power to significantly advance the energy transition by putting wind power to good use instead of curtailing it. Following its launch, enspired’s countertrading service has the potential to save an estimated one million tons of CO2 emissions every year, bringing the world many steps closer to a decarbonized energy system.
"Energinet requested a solution that limits distortion of the intraday market while complying with both IT security requirements and REMIT. After many months of activity, we are glad to see that the solution is working as expected."
Johannes Bruun
Director of Electricity Markets at Energinet