London, 28 September 2011

The power exchanges Nord Pool Spot and EPEX SPOT recently signed a Letter of intent in order to create a Joint Venture, to build a joint system platform and later operate this platform together.

“We are evaluating a strategic alliance in order to increase value for our customers. Working together with more resources, we can create the best IT applications and solutions, while keeping close to our customers in our respective regional markets”, says Mikael Lundin, CEO of Nord Pool Spot, at a joint press conference in London.

The first step aims at unifying the intraday and day-ahead systems. “Harmonizing our systems and simplifying the interfaces are a prerequisite for further successfully integrating European power markets”, says Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, CEO of EPEX SPOT, at the joint press briefing.

The next step envisaged is to harmonize the operations of the markets. The Joint Venture will be created during 2012 and be based in London. Employees will however be located in their present offices. The parties will contribute equally to the entity.

The Joint Venture will reinforce the ongoing European integration projects. It is expected to accelerate and simplify the creation of a single price calculation in the European day-ahead markets. This leads to more efficient use of power in Europe, benefitting both consumers and customers of the exchanges.

Nord Pool Spot and EPEX SPOT will continue as separate power exchanges, i.e. keep their rulebooks and be in charge of their respective customers.

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Nord Pool Spot offers both day-ahead and intraday markets to its customers. 350 companies from 18 countries trade on the market. The Nord Pool Spot group has offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Tallinn and London. In 2010 the group had a total turnover of 310 TWh, which includes the auction volume in the UK market N2EX.

EPEX SPOT SE operates the power spot markets for France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Day Ahead and Intraday). Together these countries account for more than one third of the European electricity consumption. EPEX SPOT is a Paris-based company under European law (Societas Europaea) with a branch in Leipzig. 279 TWh have been traded in 2010 on the EPEX SPOT power markets, while a 10% growth is expected in 2011.