Slovenia will have, from October, an own trading platform of electricity, which it intends to open for external partners.
The plans of the Romanian authorities to raise the operator of the national electricity market, OPCOM, at the rank of regional company receives a new blow. Slovenia announced that in October, will have a national company, South Pool, and will try to attract outside traders, including from Romania, Albania and Bulgaria, writes Reuters. The announcement is not very good for the officials from Bucharest, provided that one of the great advantages of the project "OPCOM - regional energy company" was that no former Yugoslav country didn't have, so far, an own company of its kind. And the stake of the project is just the coverage of these countries, where the cheapest energy in Europe comes from, which once brought in Romania, may lower bills. The infrastructure makes the difference
The authorities from Bucharest are still optimistic about the advance made by the Romanian project. "Everyone wants to have a regional company, Greece, Austria and most recently, Slovenia, but everything is at a declaratory level. Even if Slovenia will launch a national company, OPCOM retains the advantage of having an infrastructure which will allow the mediation of transactions in the region", said, for EVZ, Stelian Gal, the general director of Transelectrica, the ruling forum of OPCOM.
But the Balkans can be a good export destination, provided that in this area, demand for energy is increasing, especially in the industrial sector. Thus, according to some analysts quoted by Reuters, the annual deficit of energy in the region is around 15 TWh. Last year, Romania exported 3.3 TWh, although in 2006 the indicator surpassed 5.2 TWh, according to the data released by the regulating authority.
Time passes against Romania
Transelectrica's responsible does not see a hurdle in the step made by Slovenia, but acknowledges that time passes against Romania. "This announcement should be viewed rather as an incentive for us to move faster and to find ways to attract more traders", believes Gal.
OPCOM manages, since 2005, an electricity spot market, with 81 paricipants enrolled until now. Meanwhile, the operator also owns a platform of bilateral contracts and a market that is selling green certificates, used by producers of renewable energy.
SLOW PROGRESS
OPCOM lost the start
The removal of OPCOM from under the guardianship of Transelectrica is included for years among the intentions of the authorities. A year ago, Transelectrica has signed a partnership with the North Pool company, which administers the national company in northern Europe, to adapt the OPCOM infrastructure to the requirements of the regional market, EBRD expressed their interest to fund the project. The adjustment was to be completed this summer. The only step made this year by OPCOM was assuming the role of contact on the spot market so that payments are not made directly between sellers and buyers, but intermediated by OPCOM, participants having the guarantee of the payment on term. Although initially the countries of the region, such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece, showed their interest in transactioning energy through OPCOM, each went on with their own project of this sort.