Participation of German capacities in the Polish capacity mechanism

As part of the "Clean Energy Package" (CEP) legislative package, the EU Commission has defined requirements for both the introduction of capacity mechanisms (CRM) and their design. According to the provisions of the Electricity Market Regulation (Art. 26 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943), capacity mechanisms must be opened up for the cross-border participation of foreign capacities. Since 2024, capacity providers in Germany have the option of cross-border participation in the Belgian and Polish capacity mechanisms. A prerequisite is a direct connection to the electricity supply network of a German transmission system operator.

The Polish transmission system operator (PSE) provides extensive information on the basic functions and deadlines of the Polish CRM on its website (Link).

Furthermore, PSE has published a guideline on the framework conditions for cross-border participation in the Polish CRM (Link) as well as further information and examples (Link).

The process is as follows (source: PSE):

Update on supplementary auctions from 2025:

Due to the reform of the European electricity market design (EU) 2024/1747, temporary participation in the Polish capacity market will be possible from 1 July 2025 for capacities exceeding the CO2 emission limit of 550 gCO2/kWhel, provided that they were commissioned before 4 July 2019. To this end, Polish transmission system operator PSE will conduct so-called supplementary auctions, alongside the regular auctions, in which all previously eligible plants as well as those with higher CO2 emission levels can participate. These supplementary auctions will be open to capacity providers from Germany that have a direct connection to a transmission network. 

The first supplementary pre-auction will take place on 3 March 2025 for the delivery period from 1 July to 31 December 2025. The pre-auction for the following year is expected to follow in June 2025.

Further information on the supplementary auctions can be found on the PSE website: PSE announces pre-auctions for the supplementary auction for the delivery period from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2025 - Capacity Market News - PSE eng

If you have any questions, your transmission system operators will be happy to answer them via the following e-mail inboxes.

xb-capacitymechanism@50Hertz.com

xb-capacitymechanism@Amprion.net

xb-capacitymechanism-de@Tennet.eu

xb-capacitymechanism@Transnetbw.de