Turkey’s TEIAS increases ENTSO-E cross-border capacity

The Turkish grid operator TEIAS has increased the interconnection capacity with Bulgaria and Greece by 100MW, a source at the operator told ICIS on Wednesday.

The net transfer capacity between the Bulgarian and Greek systems to Turkey will increase from 550MW to 650MW, while the export capacity in reverse direction will rise from 400MW to 500MW. Two thirds of the capacity is allocated for the Bulgarian-Turkish border, and a third in the Greek direction.

The rise was already reflected in the available transfer capacities (ATC) for July published ahead of the Bulgarian cross-border capacity auction due to be held next week. The ATC in the Bulgaria-Turkey direction increased to 216MW from 183MW for June while the reverse direction was pegged at 133MW, but has not increased to 167MW.

A Bulgarian trader said the increase may lead to cheaper cross-border capacity prices for next month as there may be less aggressive bidding. The June Bulgaria-Turkish border out-turned at €12.60/MWh in the auctions held by the Turkish grid operator TEIAS. Historically, prices had been even higher, jumping to €23.10/MWh in December 2014, for example.

ICIS revealed earlier in April that TEIAS was in the process of increasing the cross-border capacity with the European system following the signing of the operator’s long-term agreement with the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) in Brussels that month.

The long-term agreement signed between TEIAS and ENTSO-E marked the end of a five-year trial period for Turkey, opening up the opportunity for the country to become an observer state and possibly a full ENTSO-E member in the near future.

Full ENTSO-E membership would require Turkey to implement the provisions of the EU’s third energy package such as those related to transparency, congestion management and market transactions. aura.sabadus@icis.com