Trial operation at NSL starts on 1 October

On Friday 1 October, the transmission of power on the new interconnector between Norway and Great Britain will begin. The connection has undergone various tests in the last three months and is now ready for trial operation in the power market.

When trial operation starts, it is the result of the power market auctions on both sides of the interconnector that determines how much and in which direction the power will flow. Trading on the interconnector starts the day before trail operation begins (30^th September).

- The technical tests have been carried out as planned, and we are pleased to reach an important milestone for the North Sea Link project, says Executive Vice President Gunnar Løvås in Statnett. - Until now, it has been our need to test the interconnector that has determined the flow over the cable. From 1 October, the capacity will be available to the power market.

The cable was completed in early June, and on June 18, transmission between the two countries was tested for the first time. The test period is now over, and the interconnector is ready for a three-month trial period where the functionality will be verified and evaluated.

- A period of trial operation is important to ensure long term safe operation of the interconnector. Power exchange between countries is an important prerequisite for a zero-emission energy system in the future. Renewable energy production varies between different areas and sources, and power exchange will be increasingly important to ensure continuous access to enough power, says Executive Vice President Løvås.

The interconnector is built for a transmission capacity of 1400 MW. In order ensure the operational security of the Norwegian power system, the trial operation will begin with a maximum capacity of 700 MW. During trial operation, the maximum rate of change of power flow, so-called ramping, is set at 300 MW per hour. The market will be notified of capacity changes through market announcements.

North Sea Link is owned by Statnett and the British National Grid with 50 percent each. The connection has cost approx. 1.6 billion euros.

How trading on NSL will take place

Due to Brexit, the NSL interconnector cannot participate in any of the market solutions in the internal European energy market (IEM). The uncertainty that Brexit brought into the project at an early stage, led Statnett and our partner to develop a separate market solution for NSL. All necessary permits from the Norwegian and British authorities are now in place, and all agreements regulating the details of trade between the countries have been completed.

There will be a separate day-ahead auction between NO2 and the UK. This is an implicit market coupling, where participants deliver bids and offers for every hour on the Norwegian and British side of the connection, respectively. These are then coupled over available capacity on NSL with an algorithm similar to the one used in the European Single Day-ahead Coupling SDAC.

The trade on NSL closes at 10.50 CET, and the result is ready at 11:00 CET. The participants in Norway only need to place bids in the NO2 area. If they do not get a accepted there, they can participate with the same capacity in the European SDAC auction afterwards. In case of failure at the NSL auction, the fallback solution will be to run it again after the SDAC auction.

Two auctions will give two spot prices in NO2; one price for those who participate in the Norwegian-British auction and one price for the main European auction.

The market participants still have to plan to be in balance in NO2.

Anyone who is a customer of Nord Pool can participate in the NSL auction on the Norwegian side. On the British side, NSL is integrated into Nord Pool's British spot auction.

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