Bulgaria’s balancing market delayed by TSO certification – lobby

The launch of Bulgaria’s electricity balancing market is facing delays because of the certification of the transmission system operator (TSO) ESO as an independent operator, Bulgarian Wind Energy Association (BGWEA) said.

Earlier this week energy watchdog DKER gave renewable and cogeneration electricity producers until 24 January to sign balancing contracts with the coordinators of balancing groups. The urgency of the request led some market sources to believe that the balancing market was in the final stages before the launch ( see EDEM 21 January 2014 ).

But according to BGWEA that is not yet the case. “At the moment, it shall not be possible for the balancing market to launch as several requirements for determination of an independent transmission system operator have not been met yet,” a spokeswoman for BGWEA said in an e-mail statement on Tuesday evening.

DKER finalised the unbundling of ESO from the state-owned utility NEK in December( see EDEM 7 January 2014 ). However, the official transfer of the electricity transmission infrastructure from NEK to ESO has not yet been listed in the Bulgarian trade register.

Additionally, DKER has to certify ESO is compliant with the requirements for independence and the European Commission has to be notified, the spokeswoman said.

“Starting the balancing market without certification for independent transmission system operator and without notification of the EC for this, would breach Directive 2009/72/EC concerning the common rules for the internal electricity market,” she said.

EU requirements

The Commission has not yet been informed of a request from ESO for certification, a spokeswoman for the Commission said in an e-mail statement on Wednesday evening.

The TSO has three options for certification:

Ownership Unbundling;

Independent System Operator;

Independent Transmission Operator;

The spokeswoman added that the deadline for the certification of TSOs was 3 March 2012.

That is why the Commission “is pursuing, as a matter of priority, the compliance of Member States with the Third Energy Package provision including on unbundling in order to ensure that all TSOs in Europe carry out their tasks, including the balancing task, in an independent manner.”

DKER and ESO did not respond to ICIS’ request for comment and further information at the time of writing.

According to the already adopted electricity trading rules ESO should be certified as an independent transmission operator.

Short notice

BGWEA also noted that the deadline to sign balancing contracts was extremely short and would not allow for proper coordination of the draft contracts.

In a separate statement, published by the Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association (BPVA) on Wednesday, the lobby group added that renewable producers were not given enough time to choose a coordinator of a balancing group.

In fact, some renewable producers have applied to form their own balancing groups but haven’t received an approval by ESO. Because of the short deadline, that means that they can only join a group balanced by either NEK or end-suppliers CEZ, EVN, ENERGO-PRO, depending on the area their facilities are based in. Irina Peltegova