Croatian electricity exchange CROPEX and electricity transmission system operator HOPS officially became a member of the Italian Borders Working Table (IBWT) project and thus opened the door to a coupled European electricity market as part of the Multi-regional coupling (MRC) project, which currently includes 19 countries covering 85 % of European electricity consumption.
IBWT project was established in 2012 to implement the European target model for capacity allocation and congestion management. The aim of the project was the implementation of the dayahead market coupling mechanism at the Italian borders. In February 2015, IT-FR, IT-AT and IT-SI borders were coupled to the pan-European MRC project, and SI-AT border was coupled last July.
HOPS together with CROPEX initiated a formal procedure for accession to IBWT project on 6 May 2016, by sending a request for observer status. With formal project initiation, a project roadmap will be defined soon, together with the start date of market coupling.
CROPEX was launched on 11 February 2016 in cooperation with Nord Pool, Europe’s leading electricity exchange, and is co-owned by the Croatian electricity transmission system operator (HOPS) and the Croatian electricity market operator (HROTE).