Market European Stakeholder Committee Update

December 6th, the last Market European Stakeholder Committee (MESC) of 2023 took place. The Stakeholder Committees, co-organised by ACER and ENTSO-E, ensure that throughout the implementation of the network codes, stakeholders are kept abreast of developments and provided with a forum to express their views and feedback. What are upcoming developments?

Network Code Demand Response

The Network Code Demand Response (NC DR) is part of the second generation of EU electricity network codes and guidelines. In December 2022, ACER published its Framework Guideline. Now, ENTSO-E and the EU DSO Entity, together with a drafting committee consisting of the main affected stakeholders, are currently drafting the new network code.

From a procedural point of view, the main novelties are that the DSOs are now also holding the pen together with the TSOs and that ACER is directly revising the draft network code. The NC DR lays down the requirements for Demand Response, which includes rules on aggregation, energy storage and demand curtailment rules, and obligations for ensuring that system operators have access to energy resources of all electricity markets as well as define roles and responsibilities.

What‘s next? The timeline for the development of NC DR has been updated (read: prolonged). The submission of the NC to ACER is now intended for 8 May 2024.

Want to dig deeper? Read ACER’s framework guideline or check out the draft network code from the public consultation.

Balancing platforms

All four balancing platforms (IGCC, MARI, PICASSO, TERRE) are operational. Let’s zoom in on the main accession news:

• IGCC: All TSOs who are required to connect by the EU’s Electricity Balancing Guideline (EB GL) are connected. Accession of the Baltic TSOs is planned for 2024.
• MARI: The majority of TSOs (Nordic, Baltic, and the rest of Central Europe) are expected to connect by the legal deadline of July 2024. However, potential delays are already anticipated by some TSOs (e.g., PSE, RTE, TenneT NL).
• PICASSO: Most TSOs (Nordic, rest of Central Europe) are expected to connect by the legal deadline of July 2024, with some potential delays already being anticipated (e.g., TenneT NL, SvK).
• TERRE: There are currently 6 operational members. The non-operational member PSE is expected to connect in 2024. Ukrenergo and Eirgrid are to become observers.

Want to know more? Check out the MARI accession roadmap or the PICASSO accession roadmap.