Will power trading seize up across GB’s interconnectors after Brexit? National Grid says trading will continue, but it will not be ‘frictionless’ if there is no deal and the UK exits the pan-EU ‘internal energy market’.
Janet Wood discussed the options in an exclusive interview with Mike Elmer and John Greasley of National Grid Ventures. “Our fallback position, if the day-ahead market coupling fails, is to run explicit day-ahead auctions,” they said.
That is more straightforward for GB’s older interconnectors, which can turn back the clock, and revive existing trading platforms and contracts that pre-date the EU’s internal energy market. For new interconnectors, with market arrangements planned around ‘implicit’ trades and the IEM, there are no ‘explicit’ capacity booking arrangements to fall back on. The company is racing to put them in place to ensure trading continues in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Download full interview: New Power issue 117 November 2018 NEMO
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Read New Power’s interview with Eleclink managing director Steven Moore:
“If you have a new set of requirements, that is not a great use of time and resources. We are investing a lot of our shareholders’ money in making sure that we are compliant with current licence conditions.”
The fear of incurring big IT system costs over again goes for other interconnector projects, he believes. “There are a lot of potential investors that are looking at this business model at the moment and want some certainty before they will proceed.”