Energy and electricity are usually associated with the colour green. Not anymore. Today, grey is the colour of the European energy market according to Professor Leonardo Meeus from Vlerick Business School, Belgium, who provides PES with an insight in to the new market model choices being made across the EU and things that need to me considered by the decision makers…
The new market model
The energy landscape has changed considerably in recent times. Twenty years ago, almost the entire energy value chain was in the hands of a single player. Nowadays there are different bodies responsible for different areas: producers, transmission system operators (TSOs), distribution system operators (DSOs) and retailers.
The market does not stand still. In the side-lines of the distribution system, a myriad of new activities have sprung up which, in contrast to the TSOs and DSOs are not regulated at a national or EU level. For example: market facilitation, installation and operation of charging infrastructure and local electricity storage. However, it is not yet clear to whom these activities belong. Each country is making its own choices. There are still grey areas but they make it all the more interesting and exciting for me as a researcher.
Who facilitates the market?
As long as large-scale electricity storage remains too expensive, supply and demand must be closely matched with each other. All activities associated with this come under the heading of “market facilitation”; data exchange through a data hub is one of these. Up until now this data exchange was typically dealt with by the TSOs. However, with the rise of distributed generation, some of the market activities have shifted to the distribution level. Even consumers produce electricity nowadays. They have become prosumers. But then the question arises as to who should facilitate that market?
