BritNed Launches Empire 6.0

BritNed has launched Empire 6.0, a significant milestone in the development of the award-winning auction and nomination platform.

As the latest release of the platform, Empire 6.0 has been engineered to deliver a host of new and innovative functionality, expand upon existing features, whilst continuing to combine state-of-the-art technology with a user-centric design.

Since its initial launch in September 2023, Empire has been continuously developed, with 128 new features integrated into the platform over 39 releases in 2024. Yet the release of Empire 6.0 on 1 April 2025, exactly 14 years since BritNed became operational in 2011, is a significant milestone in the development of the trading platform and includes:

• a redesigned Buy Now 2.0 auction to deliver greater trading efficiency
• new Webhook functionality to deliver automatic and customised messages directly to the user, including within their own trading system
• a new Dynamic Auction Overview to display the most relevant auctions to the user based on their preferences
• expanded Single Sign On functionality to save time accessing Empire, without compromising security
• new personalisation functionality to configure the Empire environment to meet the user’s individual workflow preferences
• new Bidding Configurations enabling users to set limits to their bids, per timescale, across all auctions

Empire 6.0 introduces Webhook functionality into the platform for the first time. A subset of APIs (which need to be manually asked to pull or modify data), Webhooks automatically send data in response to a specific event trigger. In Empire 6.0, users will be able to create a series of custom Webhook notifications to subscribe to automatic messages covering a range of topics, including:

• when a specific auction is open for bids to be placed
• when Buy Now offers are published
• when auction specifications are changed
• when invoices are sent / marked as paid
• when the status of an unplanned outage is changed

The Webhook messages will also be available in the user’s web browser and own trading system, for maximum efficiency and convenience.

Empire 6.0 see the introduction of new, powerful personalisation features, alongside the expansion of some existing functionality.

Empire’s personalisation functionality has been designed to enhance the user experience and help deliver greater efficiency by enabling the platform’s environment to be tailored to suit the individual user’s specific role and workflow preferences.

The new Dynamic Auction Overview simplifies the auction environment by automatically displaying the most relevant forthcoming auctions to users, based on their preferences. The Dynamic Auction Overview will also help save time for users by enabling them to view the recently cleared auctions, alongside the relevant upcoming auctions in Empire, without the need to filter through the complete Empire auction schedule to locate the past or future auctions most relevant to them.

Users can further personalise the environment according to their roles or the types of auctions they participate in, including whether they are participating or nominating capacity from auctions aligned with Long Term, Day Ahead, or Intraday timescales. This level of customisation ensures that users can navigate and operate within the Empire platform more effectively than previously possible, leading to improved productivity and a more streamlined trading experience.

Empire 6.0 also includes the release of Buy Now 2.0, which is a comprehensive redesign of the Buy Now auction. The unique Dutch-style auction mechanism used in Buy Now 2.0 enables participants to acquire capacity before, during and after the regular Intraday auctions, trading closer to the delivery period than previously possible – up to 2 minutes before the Nomination Gate closure.

Buy Now 2.0 has replaced the 5MW capacity blocks previously used in Buy Now auctions. Buy Now 2.0 has introduced a custom capacity request, providing participants with greater ease and control in securing capacity, from very small amounts up to the full offered capacity. Approximately 10% of BritNed’s Intraday capacity is redirected into the Buy Now auctions, although at times, there might be even more capacity made available. Once the Buy Now offer is published, the price will automatically begin to decrease from the starting price in equal price steps, every 15 seconds, until the capacity is purchased.

Commenting after the successful launch of Empire 6.0, Nils Teipel, Commercial Operations & Planning Manager at BritNed: “Over the past several months, we have been busy developing Empire 6.0 with our partners Supercharge, with a clear focus on further enhancing the platform’s overall functionality. The enhancements we make to Empire are always informed by our users, helping to ensure the platform continues to adapt to their evolving needs, and feedback we received in 2024 was used to inform the development roadmap for Empire 6.0.

“We are dedicated to continuous innovation and developing solutions that prioritise not only the needs of our customers but can also be specifically tailored to their sophisticated operations and workflows in order to deliver greater convenience. The new personalisation functionality that Empire 6.0 delivers will enable users to tailor the Empire environment more comprehensively to their individual preferences than ever before.

“Empire 6.0 continues to combine state-of-the-art technology with a user-centric design, but introduces greater personalisation options for each user, alongside new exciting features such as Webhooks, to deliver greater trading efficiencies for BritNed’s Participants.”