The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has successfully launched trading in Cap Futures. This new derivatives contract allows EEX trading participants to hedge against price peaks that may occur on the German intraday power market.
The first trading transaction comprised a volume of 1,680 megawatt hours, traded at a price of EUR 0.20 per MWh for delivery in the calendar week 39 between RWE Supply & Trading GmbH and Vattenfall Energy Trading GmbH.
The payment threshold for the Cap Future is fixed at a price of EUR 60 per MWh. The amount of the payment corresponds to the difference between the market price, measured by the ID3-Price published by EPEX SPOT, and the amount of the cap.
The Cap Future is a financially settled derivatives contract which was developed against the backdrop of the increasing generation of renewable energies, which cannot be planned reliably in advance. This in turn, means that an increasing number of price peaks can occur on the German Intraday Market. For example, the Cap Future enables marketers of wind energy to hedge against high prices for compensating purchases should the wind yield prove to be lower than expected. Operators of conventional, flexible power plants can hedge against the price peaks to be expected in advance and, therefore, secure the expected revenues from price peaks.
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is the leading energy exchange in Europe. It develops, operates and connects secure, liquid and transparent markets for energy and commodity products. At EEX, contracts on Power, Coal and Emission Allowances as well as Freight and Agricultural Products are traded or registered for clearing. Alongside EEX, EPEX SPOT (incl. APX-Belpex), Powernext, Cleartrade Exchange (CLTX) and Gaspoint Nordic are also part of EEX Group. Clearing and settlement of trading transactions are provided by the clearing house European Commodity Clearing (ECC).