BSP SouthPool and ELEM (Macedonian power plants) have signed a Letter of Intent on co-operation on the Macedonian energy market. By the end of 2009, the partners aim to establish the trading infrastructure for the new Macedonian energy market. This is another important step to enter new markets on the Balkans alongside serious dialogues with partners in all Western Balkan states. With the signed Letter of Intent, BSP SouthPool has committed itself to expand its trading into new markets of SEE Europe.

Till the end of Q3 2009 BSP has connected 8 new members; several large European utility companies are among them,  e.g. EGL, E.ON Energy Trading SE, Statkraft Markets and Verbund. Their con-fidence in us is our biggest achievement and we are very proud that we succeeded in bringing both big European energy players and important regional actors to our exchange. With the rest of companies active in the region we are still in the process of admission. Currently, BSP has 21 members and their activity in the after–summer months appears to be improving, i.e. we have noticed a constantly growing number of entered orders on both markets, the Slovenian and Serbian. By the end of September, the total trading volume on the Slovenian and on the Serbian market has reached 10.448 MWh, the total volume of entered orders was 321.788 MWh.

The market coupling project on Slovenian-Italian border is in progress. Once in place, BSP expects that it will have a significant impact on liquidity on the Slovenian market. These expectations are based on European experiences which show that market coupling increases the liquidity of less mature markets and consequently increases the transparency on the market. The implementation working group – co chaired by the two regulators and attended by the respective governments, TSOs, market operators and power exchanges including BSP SouthPool – foresees intense preparatory activities until the end of the year and market coupling launched in Q2 2010.

In July 2009, BSP SouthPool also added the facility to clear day-ahead OTC transactions. The new facility extends the trading facilities and meets the customers’ needs on the market in the times of financial crisis. With the new facility, market participants can optimize their market position; lower the risks as well as costs.