The aim of the project is to reform Nordic balance management and imbalance settlement so that we are ready for the transition to European reserve markets. The most significant changes to information systems will be made in late 2022 when 15-minute products are launched on the Nordic mFRR energy market alongside the existing one-hour products and the bid activation process is automated,” says Maria Joki-Pesola, Program Lead of the balance management program at Fingrid.

It is important that balancing service providers understand the forthcoming changes and prepare for them in good time, so they are able to provide 15-minute products.

“Fingrid aims to support market parties through this change by communicating the changes in a clear and timely way and engaging in dialogue concerning the background to the changes and the practical implementation. The Nordic transmission system operators have recently updated their implementation guidelines for balancing service providers.”

In addition to the automation of the energy market, next year will see the transition to a new Nordic marketplace for the aFRR capacity market. The change will initially be national in scope, but all of the Nordic countries will ultimately operate in the same capacity market.

A single pricing model will be implemented this November to combine the consumption and generation balance into a single balance with consistent pricing.

“The imbalance model in the Nordics will be harmonized according to European legislation for imbalance settlement, where a single price and single position is a default pricing model. The transition to a singe pricing is strongly supported by the Nordic stakeholders”, Joki-Pesola says.

Transition to a 15-minute imbalance settlement period in 2023

The 15-minute imbalance settlement period and 15-minute intraday market will go live in May 2023. After this, only 15-minute products will be available on the mFRR energy market. This will enable the electricity market to become more real-time.

“New marketplaces and more real-time trading will require changes to the IT systems used by Fingrid and electricity market parties, as well as to energy metering. One way or another, the change will affect the entire energy industry,” Joki-Pesola states. •