Bulgaria’s IBEX launches guarantees of origin market

Four participants registered last month at the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange’s guarantees of origin platform, creating a national market. Separately, IBEX is preparing to roll out a 15-minute market time unit in the Single Day-Ahead Coupling on June 11 with other European nominated electricity market operators.

The Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) said it launched a market for guarantees of origin (GOs) of electricity with the Sustainable Energy Development Agency (SEDA or, in Bulgarian, AUER). It is part of the efforts to develop a liberalized energy market and promote renewable energy, it added.

IBEX is Bulgaria’s nominated electricity market operator or NEMO. The country’s legal framework envisages issuing GOs monthly, quarterly and semianually.

After the launch of registration on March 31, four companies joined last month: Aurubis Bulgaria, Armaco Energy, Energo-Pro Energy Services and KER Toki Power, the announcement reads.

No timeline for kickoff yet

IBEX, solely owned by the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), reiterated that its new platform provides for trading with clear rules, guaranteed payments and price transparency. Notably, there is no timeline for the kickoff.

The preparations for the rollout of a GO market lasted several years. The certificates are issued by renewable energy producers. Consumers buy them to prove their progress in decarbonization.

One GO covers 1 MWh of electricity production or consumption. When SEDA achieves integration with the European guarantees of origin system, the participants in the Bulgarian platform will be able to trade abroad as well. Neighboring Greece introduced GOs last June.

IBEX, founded in 2014, operates day-ahead and intraday markets and a mechanism for bilateral contracts.

Europe transitioning to 15-minute products in day-ahead electricity market

In other recent news, the Bulgarian NEMO co-signed a statement with its counterparts across Europe, affirming the commitment to transition to a 15-minute market time unit (MTU) within the Single Day-Ahead Coupling (SDAC) project on June 11.

The group includes Hellenic Energy Exchange – HEnEx (EnExGroup), Energy Exchange Austria (EXAA), Nord Pool, Croatian Power Exchange (CROPEX) and the Romanian Commodities Exchange (BRM).