The goal of this cooperation is an increased use of flexible power in the Dutch national and regional electricity grid. GOPACS is the coordination platform for Dutch grid operators that allows them to reduce congestion in the electricity grid. EPEX SPOT is the largest power exchange active in Europe, bringing to this partnership access to the liquidity of the Dutch power market. Through this cooperation, grid operators in the Netherlands can better match supply and demand in the electricity grid in order to reduce congestion. When doing so, they will be able to directly access the Intraday locational liquidity of EPEX to serve their flexibility needs, while flexibility providers can rely on the resilient EPEX Intraday platform.

An innovative solution at the service of the energy transition

Renewable generation assets have highly variable generation profiles, which leads to decentralised intermittent feed-in of electricity into the grid. This characteristic and the increasing electricity demand create tensions for the electricity grids in the Netherlands and also across Europe. When more transport capacity is required than is available on the grid, this is referred to as congestion.

Initiatives like the cooperation between GOPACS and EPEX SPOT are an innovative solution to solve congestions on the grid and make the energy transition more efficient. More concretely, by optimizing supply and demand with help of parties from the power market, the partners aim to ease pressure on the grid when and where needed. In the Netherlands, the System Operators’ congestion management coordination is done through GOPACS.

“By connecting EPEX SPOT to the GOPACS platform, we offer market parties in The Netherlands the possibility to contribute to congestion management through several energy trading platforms. We see this as an important step in scaling congestion management. We look forward to bringing this cooperation one step further and look forward to the added liquidity it brings”, says Dennis Stufkens, Chairman of the GOPACS Foundation. Ralph Danielski, Chief Executive Officer of EPEX SPOT, comments: “By launching our new Localflex market in the Netherlands connected to GOPACS, we open up new opportunities for flexibility providers on the one hand and for grid operators on the other hand. We are very pleased with this initiative, as it is in line with our ambition to provide top-notch services for flexibility procurement.”

Practically, grid operators with congestion situations voice their need for flexibility via GOPACS. With this new connection to the EPEX SPOT Localflex Dutch market, EPEX members with flexible assets in the Netherlands will be able to respond by sending locational bids directly to grid operators. When a buy and sell order are matched, the flexibility is then used to physically solve the congestion.

Market participants who wish to offer flexibility via EPEX SPOT can get in touch with their key account manager or send an email to sales@epexspot.com. Market parties with flexible assets in the Netherlands that want to offer their flexible energy supply and/or demand (provided with location data) for use on GOPACS can send an e-mail to sales@gopacs.eu, contact their account manager of their Dutch grid operator, or visit www.gopacs.eu for more information.

About GOPACS

GOPACS is a collaboration of all Dutch grid operators. The platform is an important step to reduce capacity shortages in the electricity grid (congestion) and helps to keep the grid reliable and affordable. GOPACS is a unique initiative in Europe and originated from an active collaboration between the Dutch national grid operator (Transmission System Operator, TSO) TenneT and all regional grid operators (Distribution System Operators, DSO’s). More about GOPACS at www.gopacs.eu.

How GOPACS works

At the moment, participants offer their available flexibility on trading platform ETPA (Energy Trading Platform Amsterdam). Soon it can also be offered on the EPEX SPOT trading platform. At request from GOPACS, market parties can place their orders on these platforms. GOPACS then checks whether a combination of upward and downward adjustments offers a solution to solve the shortage of transport capacity (congestion) in the electricity grid. This is because counter orders are needed outside the congestion area to maintain the balance in the grid at national level. The network operator with the congestion problem pays the difference in the supply and demand price, the spread, so that the bids are activated and congestion is prevented. That is the price they pay to reduce congestion in the electricity grid.