March 30 (SeeNews) - The Croatian power exchange CROPEX said it has officially become a member of the Italian Borders Working Table (IBWT) project, along with the country's Transmission System Operator, HOPS.
This is a step towards a coupled European electricity market as part of the Multi-regional coupling (MRC) project, which currently includes 19 countries covering 85% of European electricity consumption, CROPEX said in a statement earlier this week.
IBWT project was established in 2012 to implement the European target model for capacity allocation and congestion management. The aim of the project is to implement the day-ahead market coupling mechanism at the Italian borders.
HOPS together with CROPEX initiated a formal procedure for accession to IBWT project on May 6 last year by sending a request for observer status. With formal project initiation, a project roadmap will be soon defined, together with the go-live date of market coupling.
CROPEX launched its day-ahead market on February 10 last year.
In 2015, it signed a deal with Nord Pool, Europe’s leading power market, to implement and test systems for establishing the day-ahead market. This allowed the CROPEX day-ahead market to be operational as part of the EU-wide Multi Regional Coupling (MRC).
Elsewhere in Southeastern Europe, Bulgaria and Serbia have also launched day-ahead power exchanges.