Nikola Gabrovski, project manager at the Bulgarian Independent Power Exchange (IBEX) said that the intraday segment of IBEX is expected to be operational in January 2018.
Initially, intraday trading platform was supposed to be launched in mid-2017 but, according to Gabrovski, the start date depends on other market participants as well, such as the Bulgarian electricity transmission system operator ESO and it is also related to amendments which should be made to Bulgaria’s electricity trading rules.
He added that the supplier of the trading platform has already been chosen, but its name will be revealed in March, when the contract between the supplier and IBEX should be signed. In March 2016, Trayport’s GlobalVision trading system was selected as an electronic trading platform for the organization of a centralized market for bilateral contracts, while day-ahead segment was prepared in cooperation with Nord Pool Spot.
Regarding market coupling, Gabrovski said that there is no short-term alternative for IBEX to join a regional market coupling, due to a late start date of the day-ahead market which did not allow IBEX to join 4MMC. However, IBEX could wait for the coupling of 4MMC and MRC.
The Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) has started electricity trading on 19 January 2016. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and the energy exchange was developed in partnership with Nord Pool Spot. The Centralized Market through Bilateral Contracts (CBMC) on IBEX has been launched on 24 October 2016.
