A sell order is a bid in which a market party offers to temporarily decrease electricity consumption or increase generation compared to its original schedule. Sell orders are used in the redispatch process to resolve expected congestion within 24 hours (intraday).
When grid operators expect congestion in an area, they send a market message via GOPACS. Market parties can then submit buy and sell orders on connected trading platforms.
With a sell order, you:
You offer your flexibility in kW or MW and set your own bid price.
The GOPACS algorithm matches buy and sell orders in a way that resolves congestion without creating new constraints elsewhere. The most cost-efficient combination is selected. The required sell order with the highest relevant bid price is activated.
A sell order is also required when reducing consumption. Consumers typically purchase electricity in advance and therefore have a delivery obligation. If they consume less to relieve congestion, surplus electricity remains. This surplus is sold back to the market via a sell order. This maintains market balance and may create a financial benefit if the selling price exceeds the original purchase price.
More electricity is available in an area than the grid can transport out. In that case, the market message calls for local buy orders. By increasing consumption or reducing generation, less electricity remains available for transport.
A local buy order is always matched with a non-local sell order to maintain the national balance.
More electricity needs to be transported into an area than the grid can handle. In that case, local sell orders are requested (reduce consumption or increase generation). This reduces the amount of electricity that needs to be imported.
These local sell orders are matched with non-local buy orders.
| Generation Congestion | Consumption Congestion | |
|---|---|---|
| Situation | Too much electricity in the congestion area | Too little electricity in the congestion area |
| Consequence | More electricity must leave the area than can be safely transported | More electricity must enter the area than can be safely transported |
| Desired action | Reduce generation or increase consumption | Reduce consumption or increase generation |
| Inside congestion area | Buy orders | Sell orders |
| Outside congestion area | Sell orders | Buy orders |
