The Irish and Northern Irish electricity sector is undergoing its most drastic change in a generation. The move to the Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM) on 1 October will see the Irish and Northern Irish markets shift radically from the status quo.
Against this backdrop, on Tuesday 18 September Cornwall Insight Ireland hosted an event – Navigating I-SEM – which was attended by 80 high calibre representatives of some of the most important stakeholders in the Irish energy markets.
Our independent, expert Irish team took attendees on an insight-laden tour through wholesale, generation, Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and retail markets. The common themes? Radical change, emerging competition, coming new entry and the need for innovation.
The event was interactive, reflecting our strong desire for attendees to get a sense of the mood around the industry as market launch approaches. In response to our questions, the audience polled incredibly positively on the value-creating opportunity that I-SEM presents.
This is tempered by concerns around new risks in trading and imbalance management and a sense that an awful lot of mitigation activities by stakeholders are being tail-ended just ahead of market launch.