Institutions & Markets ====== Markets ====== lead-authors: [Name] contributors: [Names] reviewers: [Names] version: 0.4 updated: 25 March 2026 sensitivity: low status: draft ai-use: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) was used for editorial revision, reference verification, and formatting; to be reviewed This topic is part of the ISGAN Wiki and is currently being developed. You can contribute directly by clicking the edit button, or use the [[about:newtopic|Topic Builder]] for guided input. A confirmed wiki account is required. Register and allow up to three days for admin confirmation. Before contributing, read the [[about:guidelines|ISGAN Wiki Editorial Guidelines]]. Electricity markets coordinate investment, dispatch, and system services across multiple timescales. Their design shapes which resources participate and who bears risk. ===== Why this matters ===== [To be drafted] ===== Shared definitions ===== Electricity markets are institutional arrangements through which the production, delivery, and ancillary services of the electricity system are coordinated via price signals and contractual obligations. Markets operate across multiple timescales — from long-term capacity investment decisions through to real-time balancing — and different market segments address different functions within the overall system. Cerqueira, Belhomme et al. (2016) describe the market and service layers of the electricity system across four temporal horizons: long-term investment and capacity mechanisms; medium-term management of uncertainties and risks with existing assets; short-term generation-consumption balance; and post-delivery settlement.((Cerqueira, P., Belhomme, R., et al. (2016). A methodology for the analysis of market designs at the horizon 2030. //CIGRE 2016 Session//, Paris.)) {{picture8.png?700|The market and service layers timeline across investment, medium-term, short-term, and settlement horizons}} **Figure 1.** The market and service layers timeline.\\ //Source: Cerqueira, Belhomme et al. (2016). Note: more recent versions of this framework may exist — see topic notes.((Cerqueira, P., Belhomme, R., et al. (2016). A methodology for the analysis of market designs at the horizon 2030. //CIGRE 2016 Session//, Paris.))// The same authors identify the main issues under discussion in market design, spanning generation mix, networks, system security, resilience, demand, ICT, storage, multi-energy systems, and the strategies and policies coordinating them. {{picture9.png?700|Main issues under discussion in electricity market design}} **Figure 2.** Examples of the main issues under discussion in electricity market design.\\ //Source: Cerqueira, Belhomme et al. (2016).((Cerqueira, P., Belhomme, R., et al. (2016). A methodology for the analysis of market designs at the horizon 2030. //CIGRE 2016 Session//, Paris.))// ===== Perspectives ===== ==== Actors and stakeholders ==== ==== Technologies and infrastructure ==== ==== Institutional structures ==== The EU revised its internal electricity market design through a 2023 proposal amending the Electricity Regulation, the Electricity Directive, and the REMIT Regulation. The revision aims to decouple electricity bills from short-term fossil fuel price volatility by incentivising longer-term contracts, expanding power purchase agreements, and requiring two-way contracts for difference for new publicly supported low-carbon generation investments. It also seeks to improve consumer contract choice and direct access to renewable energy.((European Commission. (2023, March 14). //Questions and answers: Electricity market design reform//. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_23_1593)) ===== Distinctions and overlaps ===== ===== Related topics ===== [[topics:regulation|Regulation]] · [[topics:network_codes|Network codes]] · [[topics:flexibility_markets|Flexibility markets]] · [[topics:institutions|Institutions]] · [[topics:flexibility|Flexibility]] · [[topics:sector_coupling|Sector coupling]] ===== Topic notes ===== **Content notes from source material:** * The two CIGRE figures may have more recent versions — the original note in the source flags this. The CIGRE 2016 paper is conference proceedings without an open-access URL; cite bibliographically only until a stable URL is confirmed. * Merge flag for role model: no current wiki page — likely belongs here or in [[topics:actors_roles|Actors and roles]]. * Network codes cross-reference flagged in source — handled via related topics. * The EU market design section contains substantive institutional content that belongs in the institutional structures perspective rather than in shared definitions — moved there as a starting point for development. * Page owner: Klaus Kubeczko.