UPDATE: Serbian day-ahead electricity exchange to go live on 17 February

Serbia’s day-ahead power exchange SEEPEX will launch on 17 February, the platform said on Monday.

Market participants expect the power exchange in Serbia to provide a reference price against which forward contracts can be settled and boost liquidity on over-the-counter screens.

SEEPEX said that tests with members have so far been successful, while final regulatory issues are “about to be cleared”.

The February launch date marks a small delay from initial expectations which put the platform launch in the last week of November 2015, but a precise date was never announced (see EDEM 24 October 2015).

“The day-ahead market is the backbone of an efficient power system”, SEEPEX managing director Milos Mladenovic said.

Traders have previously been cynical about the liquidity the exchange will attract. Although state-owned utility EPS, which dominates the generation side of the market, is not going to become an official market maker for SEEPEX, speaking at an industry even last October, Mladenovic was positive that EPS will still create enough liquidity because it is expected to be an active participant (see EDEM 22 October 2015).

The news will generally be well-received by the market, because of the potential reference price that will be available.

Serbia, which hosts a large fleet of hydropower installations, is a key import destination for the more expensive and liquid Hungarian market.

ECC will handle clearing services for SEEPEX. Chief risk officer Thomas Siegl said use of a transparent reference price could “support the development of the energy sector in the entire region”.

Once SEEPEX is up and running, the next natural step would be for Serbia to join the 4M market coupling project. Mladenovic previously said that Serbia could be ready to join the 4M market coupling of Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic by the end of 2016 or early 2017.

SEEPEX is a joint venture between the country’s grid operator EMS and European energy exchange EPEX Spot

Other regional states are also in the process of launching exchanges. Bulgaria’s IBEX will go live on Tuesday 19 January, while Croatia’s CROPEX was initially expected to launch at some point in January. But there is no exact date yet.

Albania has also announced plans to have an exchange, by 2017. sophie.udubasceanu@icis.com