European Power Gets Biggest Shakeup in Years With 15-Minute Trades

Volatile wind and solar power increasingly dominate the grid, only to sometimes plunge within minutes.

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Europe is making the biggest change to how power is traded in years, in a move that brings the market closer to the needs of a system increasingly reliant on renewable energy.

Day-ahead prices have traditionally been set on an hourly basis to track shifts in demand that drove prices higher during mornings and evenings. But from Tuesday, new 15-minute blocks are being introduced in an auction run by the Epex Spot SE exchange in Paris.