One Market Area Germany – 3rd Market Dialog

First Operational Info for Shippers and Balance Responsible Parties

On 05/11/2019 the 3rd Market Dialogue for One Market Area in Germany was hosted by Gaspool, NetConnect Germany (NCG), and the related TSOs. In this blog we summarize the most important findings we gathered during this meeting.

Name of the new hub

In September, the name of the new hub which is planned to start from 1st October 2021 was published. As a result of an employee vote at Gaspool and NCG, the very ambitious name Trading Hub Europe (THE) was chosen.

Project THE

The project to create THE will be jointly managed by Gaspool and NCG, who will become joint Market Area Managers (MAM) for THE.

Ratingen, where NCG is located, will be responsible for finance, accounting, billing, and data management.

Berlin, where Gaspool is located, will be responsible for the central system balancing, 24/7 VTP services, and customer support.

Neutrality charges will be published on 20th August 2021, at the latest. In Q1 2020 the process for a new Market Area Cooperation Agreement (KoV) will start. This phase is scheduled to end with the publishing of the new Market Area Cooperation Agreement, in Q2 2021.

Market communication

There are plans for a Central platform for the ~ 1.500 market partners in both market areas, where they can deposit and update their communication parameters for establishing communication paths before the start of THE. A test system to test communication is also planned.

Communication types:

  • AS2
  • Portal:
    • one portal login – similar to the ‘Gaspool portal’ today
    • portal structured like the NCG portal structure today

Nomination formats:

  • EDIFACT format DVGW
  • Bilaterally agreed EU XML format

Balance groups / Shipper codes

It is planned that existing shipper-codes will receive a new shipper-code from October 1st 2021, so existing contracts stay valid:

This means: Balance Group Manager has to take care about their balance group structure, such as linked balancing groups, portfolio, invoicing balancing groups, linking H- and L-gas balancing groups, etc.

The new shippercode structure / nomenclature is still under discussion. There will be still separate H- and L-gas shippercodes.

Balancing Gas

The new MAM dispatching center will handle all balancing gas actions for the new market area. Here is how the balancing of gas products will be handled:

  • Global quantities can be made available in the entire market area.
  • There will be one L-gas product for all L-gas network areas.
  • There will be one H-gas product for all H-gas network areas.
  • Other balancing zones are currently under discussion.

Prequalified balancing gas suppliers in one of the market areas (Gaspool or NCG), don’t have to qualify again. One tender portal will be established for the balancing gas suppliers.

Products, contracts for balancing gas suppliers, rules and procedures are in discussion.

The information given by Gaspool and NCG are planned implementations and can still be adapted in the process. Next Market Dialogue will be at E-World 2020 on 12th February 2020!

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