Incremental Capacity: start of the consultation on 18 January 2022 - Update: Deadline for submission of comments is extended by one month to 18 April 2022!
Present situation
The requested incremental capacity (up to 16.8 GWh/h) exceeds the current technically available capacity on the German side (13.6 GWh/h) of the market area border. Therefore, Fluxys TENP, GASCADE, Open Grid Europe and Thyssengas (hereinafter "participating TSOs") will launch a project to create new entry capacity. The technically available capacity on the Belgian side of the market area border is sufficient (up to 22.6 GWh/h) to serve the requested capacity. For this reason, Fluxys Belgium does not foresee any further measures to create new exit capacity.
Compressor stations and GDRM facility: infrastructure expansion creates additional capacity
In accordance to the KAP+ decision ("Approval of an overbooking and buy-back system of the transmission system operators for the offer of additional capacity in the Germany-wide market area" Ref.: BK7-19-037), a distinction must be made between base and additional capacity. According to KAP+, additional capacity can only be marketed for a maximum period of two gas years in advance. The current KAP+ decision is only valid for a "test phase" until 01 October 2024. Beyond this date, there is currently no regulation for dealing with additional capacity, so that only existing base capacity can marketed for a term of up to 15 years in accordance with NC CAM Art. 11 Paragraph 3 Sentence 1.
Without considering the described restrictions of the currently applicable regulatory framework, up to 13.6 GWh/h technical entry capacity of the 16.8 GWh/h requested incremental capacity would be available at the VIP THE-ZTP (base and additional capacity). Assuming a continuation of the overbooking and buy-back system or a comparable mechanism after 01 October 2024, it would be possible to provide a vast majority of the requested entry capacity without additional infrastructure expansions.
According to the current regulations, a consideration of additional capacity is not possible for a complete provision of the requested 16.8 GWh/h and the associated expansion measures. Accordingly, an expansion of existing compressor stations and a new GPRM facility is required.
For the period as from 1 October 2024, we would like to summarize the most-likely outcomes, based on the information available today:
1. If the overbooking and buy-back mechanism is maintained, an offer of 13.6 GWh/h will likely be possible.
2. If the overbooking and buy-back mechanism is discontinued, the entry capacity into Germany offered as from 1 October 2024 can be significantly lower than 13.6 GWh/h.
3. In order to ensure a firm entry capacity of 16.8 GWh/h, a firm commitment of entry bookings is needed in the yearly auctions of 2023, with the entry capacity expected to be available as from 2030.
Comments by 18 March – project approval and capacity auction in 2023
The consultation document is a joint report of the participating TSOs. All necessary consultation elements are described and considered in it. The document for the German side of the market area interconnection point between the BeLux market area (ZTP) and the German market area (Trading Hub Europe) can be found under the following link: https://www.fnb-gas-capacity.de/en/cycles/2021-2023-incremental-capacity-cycle/consultation
Market participants are invited to submit written comments on the selected booking assumptions and other framework conditions to the FNB Gas (info@fnb-gas.de) by 18 March 2022.
Following the consultation, the participating TSOs will submit the project proposals for incremental capacity to the national regulatory authorities for approval.
The approval of the project, as well as the publication of the necessary parameters by the national regulatory authority, is expected to be communicated on 05 March 2023.
The auction for the incremental capacity will take place in the annual auction on 3 July 2023.