Bidding zone split would necessitate considerable amount of time and effort across power trading sector

At the quarterly meeting of the Exchange Council of the European Power Exchange, the effects of a potential split of the German-Austrian bidding zone were debated amongst the members. EPEX SPOT presented an internal impact assessment out- lining the time and effort spent by the EPEX SPOT teams following such a split. The study shows that a bidding zone split would lead to a time-consuming internal project of 9 to 12 months for EPEX SPOT only. Interactions with external operations such as the Multi- Regional Coupling, which could lead to further need for resources, are not taken into consid- eration in this assessment.
The impact assessment of EPEX SPOT echoes the findings of a study conducted by Con- sentec in association with EPEX SPOT and EEX in February 2015 which showed that, in case of a bidding zone split, costs for re-dispatch can in some cases be reduced while con- tinuous inefficiencies arise from uncertainties when determining transmission capacities be- tween the smaller zones. Comparing these two cost factors, the study illustrated that a split of the German-Austrian bidding zone would increase the total cost of power supply by up to 100 million Euros per year. …