ENTSOG BAL NC Monitoring Report 2016

15 / 127

3.1.3 Trading in Adjacent Zones
12) Bulgaria reported having set Virtual interconnection point between the two balancing zones – Transfer point by 1 January 2017.
TSOs may seek NRA approval for trading STSP
in adjacent zones as an alternative to the trading
title products or locational products in their own
balancing zone. In addition to the three coun-
tries (DE, PL and SK) that have already imple-
mented this option, Czech Republic has also
stated that the TSO request was approved by the
respective NRA. In Czech Republic this option is
ranked in the merit order as the last measure. It
is expected to be used only exceptionally, there-
fore the limitation of access by other network us-
ers is reported as negligible. (Further details are
provided in
Germany and Poland confirmed the annual
review of applicable terms and conditions. Slo-
vakia reported it as not applicable. It is only im-
plemented in the merit order as a backup to the
existing balancing platform.
An overview table of the reported merit order
with the balancing products per balancing zone
or country is available in
3.1.4 Operational Balancing Implementation Practices
Regarding the cross-border cooperation be-
tween TSOs when establishing any new STSP,
only Germany reported having done it in accord-
ance with to Art. 7.7 of BAL NC compared to
1 October 2015. Romania indicated that due to
the limited interconnection capacity, the TSO
does not currently have the possibility to include
the IP in the balancing zone and therefore, it is
not able to develop STSP with the neighboring
countries. Spain clarified that the necessary
cooperation was developed under the South Gas
Regional Initiative umbrella. No new STSPs have
been identified as necessary in the SGRI after
1 October 2015.
To foster the liquidity of the short term wholesale
gas market, the NRA can incentivise the TSO to
undertake balancing actions efficiently or to
maximise the undertaking of balancing actions
through trade in STSP. Four (AT, ES, IT and UK-
GB) of the five countries that, in the previous re-
port, had indicated that an incentive mechanism
was already implemented or foreseen, con-
firmed having established an incentive mecha-
nism for optimising TSO balancing actions by
1 October 2016. Further details are provided in
3.2 BALANCING SYSTEM (CHAPTER II OF BAL NC)
Gas transfer between two balancing portfolios
within one balancing zone shall be done by dis-
posing and acquiring trade notifications submit-
ted to the TSO in respect of the gas day. The in-
tention is to incentivise network users to optimise
their gas portfolios efficiently, so that the need
for TSOs to undertake actions would be mini-
mised.
Independently from their applied implementa-
tion deadline, all countries must implement
trade notifications by 1 October 2016.
In Map 3 below it can be seen that 24 countries
including Estonia (AT, BE/LU, BG 12), CZ, DE, DK,
ES, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE,
SI, SK, UK-GB and UK-NI) except Greece have
reported the establishment of a scheme that al-
lows network users to transfer gas between two
balancing portfolios within one balancing zone
as well as establishing a trade notification by
1 October 2016. Greece indicated the planned
implementation of the trade notification within
2018. However, network users are currently able
to transfer gas between two balancing portfolios
by submitting nominations at the Virtual Nomi-
nations Point (VNP) of the Greek NGTS.
ENTSOG BAL NC Monitoring Report 2016 | 15