By KYIV. Nov 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine has a chance to join the European united spot market as a contracting party of the Energy Community and launch market coupling in test mode in the second quarter of 2023, JSC Market Operator reported, citing acting CEO of the company Oleksandr Havva.
According to him, in December 2022, the EU should approve the EU Regulation 2015/1222 on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management, the proper implementation of which will allow market coupling to be launched in test mode in the second quarter of 2023.
As the head of Market Operator explained, the work of the Ukrainian electricity market operator is facilitated by the fact that the company has been operating according to European spot market standards from the first day.
Ukraine has declared market coupling with the states of South-Eastern Europe in 2020 in the strategic development plan approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
"Our trading platform is close to the mechanism used by the Slovak market operator – OKTE, and all business processes correspond to the status of a nominated market operator. That is why JSC Market Operator has recently received approval from all European operators to become an observer in the NEMO Committee for the preparatory period," Havva said.
NEMO is the European entity that manages the European unified market.
"We are getting ready to sign an appropriate agreement," the head of the joint-stock company emphasized.
He added that Market Operator is both organizationally and technically ready for a new challenge. Currently, the company is working together with the Ministry of Energy, NEURC and the Energy Community Secretariat to ensure that Ukraine becomes part of the unified European spot market in the near future.
"Market coupling will strengthen the Ukrainian power system and strengthen the EU energy independence. This is our win-win strategy," Havva summed up.
