State of the German Short-Term Power Market

Abstract

The paper at hand provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the German short-term power market with focus on trading and efficiency. The pivotal question is whether current market designs are appropriate to maximise social welfare. If this can’t be confirmed, trade-offs between technical restrictions, transparency requirements, the structure of the supply side and regulators focusing mainly on consumer surplus are analysed, which prevent markets from being fully efficient. The emphasis is on Germany due to it’s central location in Europe, it’s sheer size and the rapid increase of renewable generation in recent years. This development forced the German power market into a state of transition. As a result, developments in Germany might serve as a blueprint for other European countries. The introduction of negative day-ahead prices, the implementation of a very liquid intraday trading, a quarter hourly auction and market-based systems for the procurement of Ancillary Services are just some examples of Germany’s pioneering role. On the other hand, negative effects of the rapid changes such as the excessive use of non-market based redispatch measures and system endangering imbalance price regimes shall also be explored. As a matter of course, cross-references to other European countries and harmonisation projects are included as the German market is well interconnected with neighbouring markets.