10.02.2021
Dear Intraday Market Participants,

With this information, OPCOM wishes to detail several aspects in the context of Romania joining the already coupled intraday market for 15-minute products of Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Hungary and Netherlands, a process to be held on 10.02.2021, i.e. 10 days after the start-up, on 31.01.2021, with commercial effects, of the possibility of trading 15-minute contracts exclusively at national level, following the implementation of the 15-minute settlement interval from 1 February 2021 in accordance with the Order of ANRE President No. 230/16.12.2020.

The 15-minute products are supplemental to the already available 60-minute products, currently SIDC (Single Intraday Market Coupling) coupling the continuous intraday markets of 22 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The Trading day 10.02.2021, starting at 22:45 CET, will be the first trading day for the delivery day 11.02.2021 when the cross-border 15-minute product will be available, supplemental to the 60-minute, on the RO-HU border within the SIDC, which is expected to increase the possibilities for market participants to adjust their commercial positions closer to the time of delivery, thereby increasing the benefits of electricity trading and reducing the costs of market participants with imbalances. We stress  that your orders  entered  for the contracts for the 15-minute products are additional to those orders entered for the contracts related to the 60-minute products, each of the entered order being traded cross-border according to the time resolution of the cross-border products on Romania's integrated borders in SIDC, i.e. 60 minutes on the RO-BG border and 15 and 60 minutes respectively on the RO-HU border, to the other markets which are already coupled for 15- and 60-minute products.

The Delivery day 10.02.2021 will be the last day of delivery on the Intraday Market operating exclusively locally for the 15-minute product, launched on 31.01.2021, and starting with the delivery day 11.02.2021, as of 22:45 CET on 10.02.2021, the 15-minute product will be traded exclusively cross-border, under SIDC cooperation, the first 15-minute contract which will become tradable cross-border being 00:00-00:15 CET, the second 00:15-00:30 CET etc.

The gate opening time for the cross-border 15-minute product will be 22:45 CET on 10.02.2021, the first tradable cross-border 15-minute contract being the first quarter hour of the delivery day 11.02.2021, respectively 00:00-00:15 CET. At the same time, respectively at 22:45 CET, the local 15-minutes product will be deactivated and consequently, all orders for the delivery day 11.02.2021 existing in the trading platform, for local 15-min contracts corresponding to the local 15-min product, will be deactivated.

The gate closure time for each cross-border 15-minute contract will be one hour before the given quarter-hour, respectively one hour before the start of delivery of each contract.

We emphasize that the release of cross-border capacity by the transmission system operators on the borders of RO-HU and RO-BG is regularly performed at 22:00 CET, and 16:00 CET respectively, the ATC matrix being made available for the coupling within M7 Trading, while for informational purposes, the ATC values are published after the release time, on the OPCOM website, at the address: https://www.opcom.ro/rapoarte/pi/raport_atc_PI.php?lang=ro

We emphasize that the orders for contracts corresponding to the 15- and 60-minutes products can be matched against other orders with the same time resolution. Thus, an order for the 15-minute product will be matched with another order for a 15-minute product. The implementation of a cross-product matching functionality in the SIDC platform, by virtue of which 15- and 60-minute products could be matched against each other, is currently under investigation at the level of European cooperation.

Please note that the products and contracts that will be available for trading as of 11.02.2021 delivery day are those mentioned in Annex 1 to the Procedure related to the operation of the intraday electricity market, including 15-minute cross-border products.

The available validation guarantee for positive price bids and/or negative price offers will consider the Settlement Notes resulting from the application of the 15-minute settlement interval and there will be no other impact on this process.

The introduction of the 15-minute product will have no impact on receivings /payments mechanism, respectively direct debit mandates and bank guarantee letter.

We point out that Physical Notifications will continue to be carried out in the hour before delivery and after the moment when trading on the contract that will enter delivery, considering the delivery day in EET hours (Romania time).

The generic address intra_day@opcom.ro remains available to market participants and other interested parties for any additional questions or requests for information.

Dear Market Participants,

Regarding the opportunity to offer on 15-minute product on Intraday Market, we would like to point out the following:

The time interval 23:00-24:00 CET of the delivery day 31.01.2021, respectively the time interval 01:00-02:00 EET of the delivery day 01.02.2021 will be traded in accordance with Order No. 230/ 16 December 2020 regarding the extension of certain deadlines laid down in the orders of ANRE President, which means that there will be the opportunity to offer and trade the time interval 23:00-24:00 CET of the delivery day 31.01.2021 including by using the 15-minute product, respectively the 15-minute intervals 93, 94, 95 and 96 CET from the delivery day 31.01.2021 , representing the 15-minute intervals 1, 2, 3 and 4 EET from the delivery day 01.02.2021.

We specify that these intervals of 15 minutes, respectively 93, 94, 95 and 96 CET from delivery day 31.01.2021, can be traded starting at 15:00 CET on 31.01.2021 by the related contracts for the intervals 23:00-23:15, 23:15-23:30, 23:30-23:45, 23:45-24:00.

Also, the day of 31.01.2021, starting at 15:00 CET, is the first trading day of 15 minutes contracts for the delivery day 01.02.2020 CET, the first tradable 15-minute contract being 00:00-00:15 CET, the second one 00:15-00:30 CET samd. The gate closure time for each 15-minute contract will be one hour before the start of delivery of each 15-minute contract.

We emphasize that the opportinity to trade 15-minute contracts is available exclusively for local trading until new information will be provided, while the hourly products continue to be available for trading on the coupled Intraday market, under the Single Intra-Day Market.

19.01.2021

OPCOM submits to public consultation the Intraday electricity market Accession Agreement, Procedure related to the operation of the intraday electricity market, Procedure regarding collections and payments relating to the intraday electricity market transactions and Procedure for the constitution, verification and use of financial guarantees for participation on the intraday electricity market.

Please send your proposals to email idmarket@opcom.ro, in letter format, assumed by the legal representative of the company, and in word format until 29th of January 2021.

19.01.2021

Dear Intraday Market Participants,

By this information, OPCOM would like to highlight the following aspects in the context of extending the trading opportunities by introducing the 15-minute product on the Intraday Electricity Market.

The trading day 31.01.2021, starting at 15:00 CET, will be the first day when trading of the 15-minute contracts will be possible as a result of the application of the 15-minute settlement interval starting on 1 February 2021 according to the Order of the ANRE President No. 230/16.12.2020. The local trading opportunity of the 15-minute product will be available until that granularity will be implemented on the RO-HU interconnection, from that moment on the 15 and 60-min products will be traded exclusively in coupled regime, within the framework of the Single Intra-Day Coupling (SIDC).

For the 15-minute product testing purposes OPCOM has made available to the participants the simulation environment available at https://portal-simu.m7.energy/xrpm/simu/, the access credentials remaining unchanged from the time of launch in coupled operation in November 2019 (or later, as the case may be).

In the production environment, the delivery day 01.02.2021 will be the first day when notifications will be made at 15 minutes, i.e. Physical notifications will contain time series with 96 quarter-hour intervals (i.e. 92/100 on DST).
Physical Notifications will continue to be carried out in the hour before delivery and after the moment when trading on the contract that will enter delivery, considering the delivery day in EET hours (Romania time), and will contain:

• For the 15-minute product, those transactions concluded on the contracts thus defined (e.g. the notification of a 100 MW trade for the 13:00-13:15 interval will be identical, but in EET hours);
• For 60-minute products, those transactions concluded on the contracts thus defined (e.g. a 100 MW trade for the 13:00-14:00 period will be notified for the next 4 quarters of time, but in EET hours: 13:00-13:15 -> 100 MW, 13:15-13:30 -> 100 MW, 13:30-13:45 -> 100 MW and 13:45-14:00 -> 100 MW).

The available validation guarantee for positive price bids and/or negative price offers will consider the Settlement Notes resulting from the application of the 15-minute settlement interval and there will be no other impact on this process.
The introduction of the 15-minute product will have no impact on receivings /payments mechanism, respectively direct debit mandates and bank guarantee letter.

The testing of the post-trading system in the context of the transition to the 15-min settlement interval can be done at http://testm7pt.opcom.ro, the username being similar to the production one (abcd1usr like), the password will be reset by each participant individually. As previously announced, OPCOM launched in the fourth quarter of 2020 an upgraded version of the post-trading platform, based on modern technologies, with a user interface characterized by an improved degree of safety and speed, equipped with API that allows the automation of the activity of Intraday Market participants.

At the same time, OPCOM will offer the access to the message interface of the M7 Trading system for the Intraday Electricity Market ("API") for both the market participants and interested parties as soon as possible, subject to the establishment of terms and general conditions related to the provision of this service. Access to the API will be allowed by OPCOM subject to:

• successful   completion of the test carried out by OPCOM, when the applicant will be required to demonstrate that its application/system will have no negative impact on the M7 Trading system, or the intraday market operated by OPCOM;  
• signing the Agreement to use the API;
• paying the applicable fees for access to the API.

With  regard to the applicable rules, OPCOM informs market participants that the package of rules for the intraday electricity market updated for operation as of 01.02.2021 has been published in consultation in accordance with the ANRE President's Order No. 230/16.12.2021, other applicable national or European provisions, respectively:

• Intraday electricity market Accession Agreement;
• Procedure related to the operation of the intraday electricity market;
• Procedure regarding collections and payments relating to the intraday electricity market transactions;
• Procedure for the constitution, verification and use of financial guarantees for participation on the intraday electricity market.

In view of applying the 15-min settlement interval starting on February 1, 2021, OPCOM invites the market participants and the balancing responsible parties to participate in the testing activity allowed to be performed within the available testing environments (trading and post-trading).

11.11.2019
Dear Intraday Electricity Market Participants,

By this information, OPCOM wants to detail the milestones of the operational launching process with commercial effects, of the intraday electricity market in Romania in accordance with the European Union legislation and subsequent secondary legislation approved by decisions of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, respectively by orders and decisions of the ANRE President. Thereby:

• On Tuesday, 12.11.2019 starting with 00:00 EET, will be the last trading day on the intraday electricity market for the delivery day 12.11.2019 based on the current trading rules and current trading system..

Due to the need to achieve migration operations of the trading process from the current platform on the M7 Trading platform that will support the intraday electricity market in Romania operating in accordance with the related European Union legislation and subsequent secondary legislation approved by decisions of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, respectively by orders and decisions of the ANRE President, trading for the delivery day 12.11.2019, on the current trading platform, will be held starting with the day of 11.11.2019, 19:00 EET, until the day of 12.11.2019, 12:00 p.m. EET (with the interval 22:30-24:00 from the day of 11.11.2019 dedicated to the maintenance of the current trading system and restarting it for uploading the next trading day, 12.11.2019, which will exceptionally end, on this day of transition from the current trading system at 12:00 pm EET).

• The delivery day 12.11.2019 will have 25 intervals. The hourly intervals 1-24 EET will be traded based on the current trading rules and current trading system, according to the previously presented timetable. The hourly interval 25 EET from the delivery day 12.11.2019, as the transition interval from EET to CET, respectively the hourly interval 24 CET of the delivery day 12.11.2019, will be traded based on the new M7 Trading system and the new trading rules.
• The trading day 12.11.2019, starting with 15:00 pm CET will be the first day of trading for the delivery day 13.11.2019 based on the new trading system M7 Trading and the new trading rules compliant with the related European Union legislation and subsequent secondary legislation approved by decisions of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, respectively by orders and decisions of the ANRE President. Starting with this delivery day, 13.11.2019, the trading and delivery intervals relates to CET hours.
• The available validation guarantee for positive price bids and/or negative price offers submitted in the new M7 Trading system, in the trading session that will be opened on 12.11.2019 at 15:00 CET, for the delivery day 13.11.2019, will take into account the Settlement Notes made for the delivery days 11.11.2019 and 12.11.2019, the last days for which trading will end on the basis of the trading rules and the trading system applicable until 12.11.2019. The current direct debit mandates remain valid in the context of the transition to the new M7 Trading system and the new trading rules compliant with the related European Union legislation and subsequent secondary legislation approved by decisions of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, respectively by orders and decisions of the ANRE President.
• We remind that starting with the delivery day 13.11.2019, including the hourly interval 24 CET of the delivery day 12.11.2019, the bidding and the trading process will be done in EUR and relates to CET hours. Also, the available validation guarantee for positive prices bids and/or negative price offers submitted in the new M7 Trading system will be calculated in EUR using the exchange rate published by BNR (National Bank of Romania) on the day the bidding and trading process is opened for contracts related to the next delivery day. For Saturday, Sunday and Monday delivery days in order to determine the amount of the available validation guarantee in EUR, will be considered the exchange rate published by BNR on Friday, while for any other situations will be used the latest exchange rate published by BNR.
• We remind that the Physical Notifications are carried out in the previous hour of delivery and subsequent to the moment when the trading of the contract to be delivered was completed, considering the delivery day in EET (Romania time).

The access credentials to the M7 Trading system, as well as to the post-trading system, have been sent to each intraday market participant at the email address indicated in the response to the OPCOM letters sent in the last week of October 2019.
We kindly ask the intraday market participants that have not yet submitted an email address for sending the credentials to do so with maximum celerity. Otherwise, they will be unable to access the new trading system for the intraday electricity market, M7 Trading, which will enter into commercial operation starting with the 12.11.2019. The current IDM trading system will be removed from commercial use for the intraday electricity market starting with 12.11.2019, 12:00 pm EET.

At the same time, OPCOM informs market participants that following the public consultation on the Accession Agreement and procedures for the intraday electricity market updated in order to operate starting with 12.11.2019 the intraday electricity market in line with the related European Union legislation and subsequent secondary legislation approved by decisions of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, respectively by order and decisions of the ANRE President, no proposals for amendments made by market participants have been received and therefore publishes the applicable form of the following documents:
- Intraday electricity market Accession Agreement;
- Procedure regarding collections and payments relating to the intraday electricity market transactions;
- Procedure for the constitution, verification and use of financial guarantees for participation on the intraday electricity market.

As regards the Procedure related to the operation of the intraday electricity market, this has been ammended, for more clarity, following discussions with the Competent Authority, the applicable form, which will be subject to the approval by National Energy Regulatory Authority, is going to be published as soon as possible.

The following documents will be applicable for the operation of the intraday electricity market in Romania starting with 12.11.2019:

1. ANRE Order no 202/11.11.2019 for ammending the Order no 32/2013 for approval of the Regulation for programming of production units and dispatching consumers and repealing the Order no 73/2013 for approval of the Regulation for organization and functioning of the Intraday electricity Market – RO version only;
2. ANRE Opinion no 89/11.11.2019 regarding the approval by ANRE of Procedure related to the operation of the intraday electricity market developed by Operatorul pieței de energie electrică și de gaze naturale din România “Opcom” - S.A. – RO version only;
3. Intraday electricity market Accession Agreement – RO version only;
4. Procedure related to the operation of the intraday electricity market – RO version only;
5. Procedure regarding collections and payments relating to the intraday electricity market transactions – RO version only;
6. Procedure for the constitution, verification and use of financial guarantees for participation on the intraday electricity market – RO version only;
7. Trader Manual for the M7 Trading system (MFG110);
8. Detailed instructions document to access ComTrader (the production environment);
9. ComTrader Setup Guide for M7 Trading system;
10. Instructions for accessing the M7 Post Trading system.

For more clarity please send us your questions and comments to the address idmarket@opcom.ro.