Markets and Capacity Mechanisms

MIBEL

The Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL) started up on July 1, 2007, harmonizing the conditions between the two Iberian electricity systems with the perspective that its operation would benefit consumers in both countries.

The construction of MIBEL represented a convergence in physical, economic, legal and regulatory terms of the different markets and an active contribution from both countries in the construction of the Internal Energy Market (MIE).

In physical terms, the MIBEL aimed at the better coordination of procedures at the operation level of the two Transmission System Operators, as well as the development and reinforcement of the interconnection capacity of the networks. In economic terms, what was at stake was the definition of the market model and its operation. This implied defining the remuneration conditions and the agents' charges, the retribution of the power guarantee, etc.

The access conditions to the interconnection, as well as the forms of coordination between the operators and market agents of both countries were articulated. In legal and regulatory terms, the aim was to guarantee the harmonization of the legislation, of the operating rules, of the systems and the tariff convergence. This way, supervision and regulation functions were attributed to a mixed consultative body, designated Council of Regulators, with representation from the energy regulators and the financial regulators from Portugal and Spain.

In the MIBEL on-going development, four moments stand out for the impulse they gave to its creation:

November 2001 - The celebration of the collaboration Protocol between the Spanish and Portuguese Administrations for the creation of the Iberian Electricity Market.
October 2004 - The signature in Santiago de Compostela of the Agreement between the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain.
November 2006 - The XXIInd Luso-Spanish Summit in Badajoz.
January 2008 - The signing in Braga of the Agreement revising the Santiago Agreement.

The configuration of MIBEL was established in the Agreement signed in Santiago de Compostela on October 1st, 2004, which determined that the Iberian Market Operator, Spanish division, OMIE, would act as the managing entity of the daily and intraday market and that the Iberian Market Operator, Portuguese division, OMIP, would act as the managing entity of the forward market.

In 2022, the situation of the armed conflict in Ukraine caused strong instability in the energy sector through, among other effects, the increase in fuel prices with unequivocal impacts on the various sectors of economic activity and on the consumption of companies and families.

Accordingly, and considering the particular characteristics of the Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL), as well as the reduced electrical interconnection of the Iberian Peninsula with Continental Europe, the Governments of Portugal and Spain cooperated in the design of a mechanism for decoupling the price of natural gas from the MIBEL, with a view to mitigating the current instability over the respective prices.

In the Portuguese legal system, this mechanism was adopted with the publication of Decree Law no. 33/2022, of 14 May, which has an equivalent rule in the Spanish legal system. In the scope and application of this mechanism, the charge resulting from the compensation paid to the electricity generating centers covered is charged to electricity demand, after deducting the volumes of energy transacted underlying fixed price instruments and contracts. The ERSE Board of Directors approved, by Directive 11/2022, of 14 May, the system of reporting obligations in the scope of this cost adjustment mechanism in MIBEL.

Royal Decree-law 10/2022, of May 13, is the rule in Spain's legal system that temporarily establishes a production cost adjustment mechanism to reduce the price of electricity in the wholesale market.

The MIBEL

MIBEL Working Description - document from 2009 from the Regulators Council

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 1st quarter 2022 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 2nd quarter 2022 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 3rd quarter 2022 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 4th quarter 2022 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 1st quarter 2023 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 2nd quarter 2023 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 3rd quarter 2023 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 4th quarter 2023 (PT)

Quarterly Bulletin of the Iberian Electricity Market - 1st quarter 2024 (PT)