Intermittency and shorter gate closures demand tighter integration between forecasting, optimization, and trading. To succeed with the green transition, we need everyone to participate in the market. It’s clear that the current toolset employed by asset-backed traders needs to be automated and made available for all new entrants, since optimal energy planning and trading is now a make-or-break task for all.

The regulatory burden on trading market participants continues to evolve and grow more complex. The coming year will see the impact of REMIT II, both for monitoring for abuse and algorithmic trading and for REMIT reporting. What’s more, we’ll see movement in other areas, such as CBAM and MIFID II. As always, it’s important to remain ahead of the regulatory curve, so that no one is adversely affected by an unexpected impact.

Electrification of the heating and mobility sectors are the next key steps in the energy transition. This creates the basis for systemically integrating renewable energies and drastically reducing CO2 emissions. It’s crucial that companies and local authorities have the courage to make strategic investments in green technologies and infrastructure, to mitigate the consequences of the climate crisis and prevent long-term damage to our society and economy.

Interconnector development in Europe is like planning a grand feast but forgetting the forks – crucial yet neglected. Without opening the market to new Interconnector TSOs, abandoning monopolies, investing congestion income EU-wide, and standardizing regulation, energy transitions risk failure. At OMNIA, we’re paving the way for a new era of Interconnector TSOs.

The transition to renewable energy is only feasible if the energy system has sufficient aggregated flexibility. Encompassing production, consumption, and BESS, this flexibility is commonly called a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). It must be sourced from distributed assets, evaluated, and traded across various markets. A wide range of software tools support companies in bringing this flexibility to market, enabling real-time trading and risk, revenue settlement and more.

Price levels are significantly down from 2 years ago, with a stable-to-negative outlook range. Capture rates continue to drop. Weather-driven volatility is up. As a result, pay-as-produced, single-asset PPAs are dropping in value. Capturing superior value by creating a portfolio with enough flexibility, retaining and monetizing market risk – requires state-of-the-art trading and risk management. Many of our clients are building up this capability, while sorting out the interface between their asset and trading businesses.

The global trend of electricity market reform is gaining traction in emerging economies. The lessons learned from the European experience, both good and bad, are supporting these reforms, especially in Africa. Continued support for reforms will be crucial to attract much-needed investments in new infrastructure, both in generation and transmission, to secure the electrification of these countries and continued growth in their economies.

The expansion of renewable energies makes accurate weather information indispensable. From production and demand forecasts, energy trading and infrastructure management, next-generation high-resolution weather models make all the difference every day. Tomorrow’s winners are already relying on the best possible weather data today.