The coupling of Bulgaria’s day-ahead electricity market with those in Greece and Romania is expected this year, according to the website of the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX).

“The market coupling with Greece and Romania with planned go-live in April and August respectively is of strategic importance for us. We work on their successful implementation together with [transmission system operator] ESO,” according to Konstantnin Konstantinov, CEO of IBEX.

Trading volume on Bulgaria’s day-ahead market has grown fivefold since 2016

Since 2016, when the day-ahead market was launched, the number of registered participants has increased from 17 to 80, while the volume of trading has grown more than fivefold, according to an announcement by IBEX following an online ceremony to mark the 5th anniversary of the launch of the day-ahead market.

The coupling of the day-ahead markets of Bulgaria and North Macedonia is planned for 2022

IBEX has also agreed the coupling of its day-ahead market with North Macedonia’s, a move planned for 2022, according to earlier reports. The project was initiated in 2018, but has but suffered many delays.

Many market coupling projects that envisage setting up day-ahead markets are underway in the region, including Albania-Kosovo*, Albania-Bulgaria-North Macedonia, Bulgaria-Croatia-Serbia, Hungary-Serbia, but all are more or less far from completion.

The lack of day-ahead markets in the Western Balkans (only Serbia has one) hinders the development of competition in the power sector.