
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is currently exploring the possibility of merging its day-ahead, intraday, and balancing markets into a single simultaneous market as early as in FY2028. On September 25, 2024, the ministry’s Simultaneous Market Study Group released its interim report on the topic.
According to the report, the market would be based on the design of the PJM Energy Market in the United States and have power generators offering both capacity and energy at the same time. The system would use a combination of the Security-Constrained Unit Commitment (SCUC) methodology to optimize the selection of assets for capacity payments, and the Security-Constrained Economic Dispatch (SCED) to activate the most economical of those assets as needed.
Generators’ bids would include three components: the price to start-up their power plant, the price to keep it idle, and the price to generate power.
The October 2024 issue of The Japan Power Industry Executive, scheduled for release next week, will explore the ongoing discussions surrounding the simultaneous market design further, along with other key policy, regulatory, and market developments. Visit this page to request a sample issue or to subscribe.