The Clean Energy Package set out the market framework for the next decade. But how should the European electricity market be designed to face a completely decarbonised future with low marginal cost generation dominating the mix? On 7 June EURELECTRIC and Florence School of Regulation gathers stakeholders to discuss the design of power markets beyond 2030.

The European energy system is facing profound changes whilst it transitions to a decarbonised power system. Nowadays stakeholders are confronted with the deployment of decentralised renewable generation, which progressively reduces the sector’s carbon footprint, and the empowering of the energy customer through demand response and storage solutions. 

The structure of the electricity market will not only have to adapt to these changes but try to anticipate them and be prepared to conceive and adopt innovative business models. 

EURELECTRIC, in partnership with the Florence School of Regulation (FSR), has opened the debate and gathered innovative visions for the functioning of a fully decarbonised electricity market. 

Broad stakeholder involvement 

In order to attract as many ideas as possible, FSR and EURELECTRIC published a joint call for contributions in 2016. This triggered the interest of academics and energy experts who will present their results in a dedicated event on 7 June, in Brussels.

"There are some interesting proposals on how to better design a market which is flexible enough to face the challenge of increasing levels of RES. Also, attention is given to investment conditions, the perception of risk and the impact of risk adjustments on capital cost in a market where RES marginal costs could be near-zero.”

“Another key theme is the  proliferation of distributed and RES production, based on an expected surge of interest in local electricity markets for neighbourhoods” says Jean-Michel Glachant, Director of Florence School of Regulation. “The future could be made of millions of prosumers, electric vehicles and storage units willing to provide energy and flexibility that distribution grids will try to capitalize.” 

New vision for the power sector

The discussions on future market design on 7 June in Brussels is one of several strands of work initiated by EURELECTRIC to facilitate and steer the long-term transformation of the power sector. 

In combination with work on topics such as innovation and decarbonisation pathways, it will provide input for a joint future vision for the sector. 

"Whatever path the market conditions will lead to after 2030, stakeholders must be prepared to embrace new trends and be progressive about creating the right market design for low-carbon technologies to flourish," said Kristian Ruby