Essentials of each process can be found in guideline dedicated for foreign participants (here)
In accordance with the point 5.2.2.4 (3) of Capacity Market Rules, the offered volume of capacity obligation shall be not less than 2MW.
In order to submit offers in the pre-auction, you will have to create an account in the Register - PURM and submit an application to be assigned with a bidder role in relation to your entity. The bidder role has to be established minimum 1 day before pre-auction. For that purpose you will need to acquire a Power of Attorney. PoA shall be issued on the template Appendix 4.3 (here) and has to be signed by the representants of the capacity provider. User manual, which describes the abovementioned processes, can be found here. Moreover, in order to establish an account in PURM and submit applications/offers etc. you will need the qualified electronic signature.
Bids shall be selected by arranging them from the cheapest to the most expensive one and then by accepting the bids starting from the cheapest until the maximum volume of capacity to be procured in a given pre-auction is reached. Whenever several bids have the same price, they shall be ranked first, according to the consecutive lowest unit carbon dioxide emission factor and then according to the exact time of submission of the bids as recorded in the register.
If the last bid to be accepted makes the total volume of accepted bids exceed the maximum volume of capacity to be procured in a given pre-auction and this bid is:
• divisible – the bid is accepted in the part corresponding to the difference between the maximum volume of capacity to be procured in a given pre-auction and the sum of the capacity volumes in previously selected bids;
• indivisible – the bid is rejected.
A bid submitted in a pre-auction shall contain:
• Capacity provider’s identification data,
• offered volume of capacity obligation (not less than 2 MW),
• price of the capacity obligation (zł/kW/year),
• offer’s CO2 emission factor (CO2 emission factor of each Physical Unit which will replace that offer during the main certification must not exceed that value, for example if the offer is assigned with emission of 500 g/kWh, all Physical Units which will form part of Capacity Market Unit replacing that offer must have an emission factor not exceeding 500 g/kWh),
• information whether the offer is divisible or not,
• account number which the collateral shall be returned to.
No, each bid must correspond to one Capacity Market Unit. Physical Units cannot be split into multiple Capacity Market Units.
For example, depending on the metering points configuration, one power plant which has 5 generators may be treated as one Physical Unit or five separate.
There are two possible types of CMUs:
- existing generating capacity market unit that may consist of:
- one generating Physical Unit with net capacity no less than 2 MW;
- a group of generating Physical Units with total net capacity no less than 2 MW but no more than 50 MW (maximum net capacity of single Physical Unit in such group must not exceed 10 MW)
- demand side response capacity market unit that may consist of:
- one demand side response Physical Unit with net capacity no less than 2 MW;
- a group of demand side response Physical Units with total net capacity no less than 2 MW but no more than 50 MW.
Any entity (person) who is the owner of Phisical Unit or authorized by the owner of a Physical Unit to dispose of that unit on the basis of Appendix 4.2 to the Capacity Market Rules may become a capacity provider.
Yes. There are no restrictions in regard to being a capacity provider for owned Physical Units.
No. The capacity provider can operate with any number of Capacity Market Units.
The capacity provider is responsible for creating the Capacity Market Unit and representing it in Capacity Market processes. It is also a party to the Capacity Agreement, which means that it is responsible for performing the capacity obligation. It will also receive remuneration for the performance of the capacity obligation and pay penalties in case of non-performance.
In such case, if energy storage and PV would be considered as one Physical Unit, there is no possibility to split them for the purpose of capacity market. The de-rating factor applied to such unit would depend on the dominant technology. It shall be defined as a technology with greater net capacity.
For example if net capacity of PV exceeds the net capacity of storage, the de-rating factor for PVs will apply to this unit.
De-rating factors for each capacity auction are determined in the Regulation on parameters for the main and additional auctions issued by the Minister relevant for energy. The Regulation shall be issued no later than 18 weeks before the main auction. After the publication, the Regulation will be available on the website (here ), along with the previous regulations on parameters.
No. The foreign units do not need to participate in the general certification. The accepted pre-auction bid is being replaced by Physical Units in the course of main certification.
A Physical Unit comprises specific technical equipment with associated metering points. Each generator is a separate Physical Unit if it has a distinct generator output circuit. If a metering point is shared by multiple generators, they constitute one Physical Unit. The bid size must be at least 2 MW, and splitting Physical Units is not allowed.
In accordance with paragraph 3 (8) of the Regulation of the Minister of Energy of September 3, 2018 on financial collateral to be provided by the capacity providers and participants in pre-auctions are required to provide collateral only in cash, by ordinary transfer to the PSE’s bank account.
Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne S.A.
PL56 1240 5918 1111 0000 4913 7468
BIC/SWIFT: PKOPPLPW
If the capacity provider intend to participate in the pre-auctions for the main auction and 4 additional auctions (for each quarter), collaterals, in five separate transfers with the appropriate titles, should be provided.
The title of the transfer shall specify information about pre-auction which the capacity provider intends to participate in, for example:
- “Pre-auction Lithuania 2028” – Lithuanian units participating in pre-auction for the main auction for delivery year 2028
- “Pre-auction Sweden 2028” – Swedish units participating in pre-auction for the main auction for delivery year 2028
- “Pre-auction Slovakia 2028” – Slovak units participating in pre-auction for the main auction for delivery year 2028.
In concern to the participation in pre-auctions for the additional auctions, the title of the bank transfer should include for example:
- “Pre-auction Lithuania Q12025” – Lithuanian units participating in pre-auction for the additional auction for first the quarter of delivery year 2025
- “Pre-auction Sweden Q22025” – Swedish units participating in pre-auction for the additional auction for the second quarter of delivery year 2025
- “Pre-auction Slovakia Q42025” – Slovak units participating in pre-auction for the additional auction for the fourth quarter of delivery year 2025.
If the capacity provider intend to participate in the pre-auctions for the main auction and 4 additional auctions (for each quarter), collaterals, in five separate transfers with the appropriate titles, should be provided.
According to paragraph § 3 (1), the collaterals provided by capacity providers before the capacity auction might take form of cash, an insurance or bank guarantee or a surety of the company. Pursuant to Article 50 (2) of the Act of 8th December 2017 on the capacity market, the capacity provider shall be released from the requirement to establish the collateral if he holds a rating, assigned by a specialised institution, with the minimum level thereof specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Energy of September 3, 2018 on financial collateral provided by capacity providers and participants in pre-auctions.
Collaterals in the form of a bank guarantee or insurance guarantee shall be established in
the following forms:
1) written, or
2) electronic form (within the meaning of Article 781 of Civil Code Act of 23 April 1964).
Collateral in the form of a bank guarantee or insurance guarantee shall be deemed properly established if delivered to the TSO in the original copy, in the case of writing form, or sent to the e-mail address: rynek.mocy@pse.pl, in the case of electronic form (with electronic qualification signature) within the required deadline, in the correct amount and currency, and with the suitable content. The capacity provider shall submit a bank guarantee in the form of Appendix 13.1 or an insurance guarantee in the form of Appendix 13.2 to the Capacity Market Rules.
At the request of the capacity provider, the TSO may accept as collateral the conclusion of a suretyship agreement with a designated entity with sufficient financial standing, meeting the requirements set forth in the Regulation of the Minister of Energy of September 3, 2018 on financial collateral provided by capacity providers and participants in pre-auctions. The template suretyship agreement forms Appendix 13.3 to the Capacity Market Rules. More information can be found in Section 13.5 of the Capacity Market Rules.
Pre-auction
Pre-auction participant shall establish a collateral in the amount of 43 PLN per each kW of capacity to be offered in the pre-auction.
Capacity auction
Collateral for the main or additional auction is required only for an unproven demand side response units. The capacity provider to whom the operator has issued a provisory certificate referred to in Article 26(1) of the Act of 8th December 2017 on the capacity market, shall provide financial collateral in the amount of PLN 43 for each kilowatt of capacity to be offered in a capacity auction by that provider.
The deadline for collateral establishment is 3 days before each pre-auction (for main auction or additional auction).
The capacity provider shall establish the collateral not later than 10 calendar days before the start of the capacity auction. The date of lodging the collateral shall be deemed to be:
1) the date of credit the operator's bank account in the case of cash form;
2) the date of delivery of the originals of the documents to the address of the operator’s headquarters in case of an insurance or bank guarantee form;
3) the date of conclusion of the surety agreement between the guarantor and the operator in case of a surety of the company form.
After the pre-auction, the established collateral shall be divided into two parts:
• collateral corresponding to the volume of accepted bids – which shall be returned after the Capacity Market Units established receives the certificate enabling to participate in the upcoming capacity auction. The certificate is issued not later than 4 weeks before the capacity auction.
• collateral corresponding to the volume of non-accepted bids – which shall be returned no later than 7 days after the pre-auction.
The operator shall return the collateral provided by the capacity provider within 7 calendar days from the day of occurrence of the event referred to in Article 54 of the Act of 8th December 2017 on the capacity market. In the case of foreign entities day of occurrence of the event might be:
- In case of demand side response (DSR) performance test deemed as positive - issuing date of confirmation of the ability to provide a demand side response;
- In case of a negative demand side response (DSR) performance test result - issuing date of confirmation of the ability to provide a demand side response as a result of acceptance capacity provider's application. The application is accepted if the test result is not lower than 50% of the product of the available capacity and the de-rating factor indicated in the certificate. The confirmation shall specify the available capacity corresponding to the capacity obligation actually performed during the test. In such case, the capacity obligation and the available capacity shall be reduced accordingly. A reduction in the capacity obligation shall result in a corresponding reduction in the amount of remuneration and a partial seizure of collateral;
- In case of not concluding capacity agreement as a result of the capacity auction – date of certificate termination. The certificate issued for the capacity market unit may be terminated, following the end of that capacity auction upon application of the capacity provider to the PSE.
The capacity obligation consists of two parts:
- maintaining readiness to deliver the volume of capacity specified in the capacity agreement to the system by Capacity Market Unit
- delivering it during the System Stress Event.
There are no constraints preventing foreign capacity in participating in additional auctions. Each additional auction has its own pre-auction. In order to express a willingness to participate in the additional auction for a given quarter, a bid must be submitted in the pre-auction for that auction, likewise as for the main auctions.
Upon winning the capacity auction, the capacity agreement is concluded automatically in electronic form. Its content constitutes appendix 11.1 to the Capacity Market Rules.
Capacity provider receives a remuneration in the amount of capacity obligation times clearing price resulting from capacity auction it occurs.
The value of the net monthly remuneration for the performance of the capacity obligation shall be calculated separately for each capacity market unit in accordance with the formula in point 17.1.4.1 of the Capacity Market Rules.
No, Energy/ Balancing Market and the Polish Capacity Market are two separate markets. If you have a capacity agreement concluded on Polish Capacity Market there is no obligation to bid on the Energy/Balancing Market as well as there is no prohibition to participate in Energy/Balacing Market. It depends on your business decision and your local legal acts if you participate in both of them.
Single System Stress Event (SSE) lasts one hour but there can be multiple System Stress Events announced on a given day. System Stress Events may occur on working days from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. so maximum number of SSEs per day is 15.
After winning the auction, the capacity provider must maintain readiness to provide the specified electrical capacity during the delivery period and deliver it to the transmission system of the Member State directly interconnected to the system during system stress events announced by PSE.
A demonstration requires physical delivery of capacity to the system and it does not include day ahead and intraday market.
In general, the secondary market allows capacity providers to mitigate their risk of not being able to fulfil their capacity obligations. Transactions must be reported to the Register not later than 24 hours prior to the commencement of the period they relate to.
There is a minimum volume of traded capacity obligation: 0,001 MW (1 kW) and a minimum duration of traded capacity obligation: 1 hour. Secondary market transactions may regard to hours between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. during working days as system stress event may occur. Foreign Capacity Market Units are allowed to trade capacity obligations with other foreign Capacity Market Units located in the same transmission system and they are also allowed to transfer capacity obligations on Capacity Market Units located in Polish Power System.
Yes, the primary limit is the de-rated capacity of the Capacity Market Unit . However, generating Capacity Market Units can be contracted up to its net attainable capacity but for not more than 300 hours in a given delivery year.
The minimum size of the capacity obligation that can be traded in the secondary market is 1 kW.
The capacity obligation can be traded for a minimum period of 1 hour and a maximum period of 1 year in the secondary market.
Yes. Transactions in the secondary capacity market require only certification of capacity market units for the same delivery year. Please note that demand side response units must have proven unit status.
Capacity obligation of a capacity market unit comprising physical cross-border units may be transferred to:
- a capacity market units comprising physical units located in the same zone referred to in Article 6(6) of the Act of 8th December 2017 on the capacity market or
- a capacity market unit comprising physical units located in the Polish Power System.
Capacity obligation for capacity market unit comprising physical cross-border units may only be acquired from a capacity market units comprising physical units located in the same zone referred to in Article 6(6) of the Act of 8th December 2017 on the capacity market.
Capacity providers can trade capacity obligations up to December of the next year after the conclusion of additional auctions in March of the present year. For example, if conclusion of additional auctions regarding delivery year 2024 takes place 7th April 2023, transactions regarding that delivery period can be made up to the end of December 2024.
No. If you willing to be user in passive way, you do not need to have the power of attorney although any activity requires you to have one unless you are the owner of the Physical Unit. The relevant power of attorney shall be drawn up in the form of Appendix 4.3 to the Capacity Market Rules, available here.
The register user must also submit an extract from the relevant register confirming the authority of the persons signing the appendix 4.3 to represent the capacity provider.
Each document uploaded to the Register, as well as each application submitted via PURM, need to be signed with qualified electronic signature.
Qualified electronic signature is an electronic signature that is compliant with EU Regulation No 910/2014 (eIDAS Regulation) for electronic transactions within the internal European market. It enables to verify the authorship of a declaration in electronic data exchange over long periods of time. Qualified electronic signatures can be considered as a digital equivalent to handwritten signatures.