BritNed is available
on GOPACS

As of 15 April 2024, market participants can once again submit BritNed redispatch bids for GOPACS, enabling participants to help mitigate capacity shortages in the Dutch electricity grid (congestion), whilst also providing another route to market.

Market parties wishing to participate can set up their business processes and register – if not registered yet – as a Congestion Service Provider (CSP) at Partners in Energie. This will be the first step for market participants wishing to make redispatch bids via BritNed and support a reduction in grid congestion via the GOPACS platform.

Visit our FAQs section to learn more about GOPACS.

Gineke van Dijk, Commercial Director at BritNed continued: “This significant step, completed in collaboration with GOPACS, is a further demonstration of the benefits of interconnectors flexibility to electricity networks and the services which can be provided to energy markets.”

Moving forward, GOPACS and BritNed will continue to work closely together on further improvements and a higher degree of automation within the GOPACS – BritNed congestion management and allocation process.

Following the reintroduction of BritNed on GOPACS, Mike ten Wolde, Director at GOPACS commented: “In good cooperation with the BritNed team, GOPACS made the BritNed interconnector available for congestion management in the Netherlands. With this step we intent to create a more liquid congestion market by providing (inter)national traders the ability to use the BritNed interconnector for congestion management.”

GOPACS is the central platform to reduce capacity shortages in the Dutch electricity grid and helps to keep the grid reliable and affordable. GOPACS is a collaboration of the Dutch grid operators and is unique within Europe, allowing large and small market players to easily monetise their available flexibility and help resolve congestion situations.

When flexible power is deployed in congestion areas with redispatch in the Intraday market, a “counter-bid” of flexible power is always needed in another area. This allows grid operators to ensure the balance of the power grid when resolving congestion.

BritNed now enables registered Congestion Service Providers (CSPs) to provide flexible power from the BritNed connection point in the Netherlands. This increases the flexible power on GOPACS for the required counterbids. GOPACS connected parties thus have a higher chance that redispatch can take place with their bids and grid operators have more opportunities to apply congestion management.

Market participants wishing to make redispatch bids via BritNed must be a CSP to do so. GOPACS ask CSPs, who have not previously been active on the BritNed connection, to indicate that they want to use the BritNed connection point. All CSPs that have previously been active on the BritNed connection will need to register again at GOPACS, including the registration of the assigned BritNed grid connection point in their GOPACS account. Once registered, CSPs can actively bid through the power exchanges that are connected to GOPACS – ETPA and EPEX SPOT

To register as a CSP, visit the Partners in Energie website or email to tennetccc@tennet.eu

CSPs that offer flexibility to the System Operators through GOPACS must already have secured the necessary transport capacity on the BritNed interconnector in advance for the relevant delivery period.

GOPACS verifies the Offered Capacity (OC) at BritNed with the bids from the BritNed connection point. If all signals are green (this order does not cause problems at other locations in the electricity grid), the grid operators pay the price difference (spread) between the two orders so that they can be matched on the energy trading platform in order to solve the congestion situation. No bids will be accepted that exceed the OC. Next to that, the maximum flexible power is limited to only one open active BritNed auction period instead of all four at the same time in a GOPACS redispatch request. GOPACS monitors possible misuse by CSPs.