Does Europe’s Power Market Design Still Work? | Time2Talk #204: Nico Schoutteet & Paul Pontenagel

Welcome to this episode of Time2Talk, where we talk about interesting developments in the energy industry. In today's episode, join Paul Pontenagel from Time2Market and Nico Schoutteet from the CREG, as they discuss: 

👉  Are 15-minute day-ahead blocks the fix renewables have been waiting for?
👉  How big is the welfare loss from explicit UK-EU trading post-Brexit?
👉  Can speculative traders actually improve market efficiency?
👉  Are organized electricity markets still the cheapest path to net zero?
👉  What happens when three power exchanges operate in one country?

If you would like to be the next guest on Time2Talk, please do not hesitate to contact Time2Market. If you have an interesting guest in mind, leave their name in the comments, and we will get in touch. 

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𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬:

00:00 - Introduction 
01:51 - What is CREG?   
04:40 – Nico Schoutteet’s Role: Market Integration, Monitoring & Policy   
05:32 - Bridging complexity and consumer protection   
10:16 - Welfare optimization across the EU
12:40 - Exporters, Interconnectors, and Short-Term Optics   
14:35 - Implicit vs Explicit cross-border flows
17:04 - Welfare losses post-Brexit 
18:42 - Cooperation with Elia: When TSOs and NRAs align   
20:28 - Working with Power Exchanges and Competing NEMOs   
22:16 - Balancing markets and the role of speculators   
24:19 - Passive vs Reactive balancing   
25:00 – The transition to 15-minute MTU in the Day-Ahead market
27:28 – Needs of renewable generators
29:16 - Will intraday markets stay relevant post-granularity shift?   
31:32 - Do hedge funds belong in power markets?   
32:21 - Building trust after a crisis
34:55 - Thank you for today