APX-Endex, Belpex and Nord Spot Pool, the Dutch, Belgian and Nordic regional electricity exchanges, have begun the first phase of their cross-border intraday power market.

In what could be the first step towards a more unified European power market, intraday trading went live on February 17 across the Dutch-Belgian border.

The solution is a continuous trading system where trades in one country are automatically matched with bids and offers in the other country as long as there is capacity available on an intraday basis.

The Dutch and Belgian day-ahead electricity markets have been integrated since 2006 and now have aligned prices about 80% of the time.

The Dutch and Belgian transmission system operators TenneT and Elia are also participating in the project.

The development of intraday markets is a high priority, the exchanges said, because of the growing use of renewable generation. Sources like wind and solar power are more unpredictable in output, so there is a need to trade power quickly.