An analysis of the South East Europe electricity market

Until October 2004, the South East European (SEE) power system had never been connected in unified parallel operation. For the first time in history, all of continental Europe became a single synchronous electricity area with 450 million people in 22 countries. At the Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), regional countries in the SEE agreed to create a stable common regulatory and market framework capable of attracting investment in gas networks, power generation and transmission networks, so that all countries would have access to the stable and continuous gas and electricity supply that is essential for economic development and social stability. This paper provided an overview of the electricity market in the SEE and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the regional market. A brief description of each relevant country in the context of power issues was presented. It also provided some results of a long term generation and transmission development planning Geographic Information system study for the SEE region and analysed the influence on regional security of supply. In this regard, investment opportunities were identified. It was concluded that the main disadvantages in regional energy market establishing include differences in levels of economy; production and consumption structure; energy prices; purchasing power parity; energy sector organization; transmission bottlenecks; power plant aging, low efficiency and problems in environmental protection. The main advantages should cover lower total development expense and system operation as well as higher supply security. 4 tabs., 3 figs., 8 refs