Intraday market
The intraday market is the continuous order book that opens after day-ahead gate closure and runs until close to physical delivery — typically 30–60 minutes pre-delivery in Estonia. Where day-ahead clears once at noon, intraday trades constantly to clean up forecast errors before imbalance prices apply.
The intraday market is the continuous order book that opens after day-ahead gate closure and runs until close to physical delivery. Where day-ahead clears once at noon for every hour of the next day, intraday trades minute-by-minute to clean up the gap between forecasts and reality before imbalance prices apply.
Estonia's gate closures
In Estonia, intraday trading on cross-border products closes 30–60 minutes before delivery; intra-zone trading runs even later. The reference platform across the Nordics, Baltics and most of Continental Europe is Single Intraday Coupling (SIDC) — Nord Pool's Elbas terminal connects directly into it. SIDC began as the EU-wide cross-border intraday coupling (XBID) in 2018; Estonia's Elbas dates back to the original NP Estonia bidding-zone launch in 2010. Bids are price–quantity and matched continuously: first acceptable counterparty wins.
Why it exists
Day-ahead is a forecast committed twelve hours before delivery. Wind shifts, loads surprise, generators trip. The BRP that did not buy enough yesterday will close the gap intraday rather than face the imbalance price afterwards. Closing a known shortfall before delivery is almost always cheaper than paying the TSO to fix it after the fact.
Volume profile
Intraday volumes have grown sharply across Europe since 2022 as wind and solar penetration increased. In Estonia, intraday clears roughly 5–10% of total day-ahead volume on a normal day, more on volatile weather days. For batteries and demand response, intraday is the second-largest revenue stream after balancing reserves: the asset with the fastest dispatch wins the trade.
Dažniausiai užduodami klausimai
- What is the intraday electricity market?
- The intraday market is a continuous order book that opens after day-ahead gate closure (~14:00) and runs until close to physical delivery — typically 30–60 minutes pre-delivery in Estonia. Where day-ahead clears once at noon for next-day, intraday trades constantly to let market participants clean up forecast errors as new wind, demand and outage information becomes available.
- Who uses the intraday market?
- Renewable generators whose actual output diverges from day-ahead forecast (a wind park that is over-producing sells excess intraday before it has to settle at imbalance). Suppliers covering shifting load. Traders running intraday strategies. The price tends to converge with imbalance price as gate closure approaches — it's the marketplace where forecast errors get monetised before the TSO does it for you at the imbalance price.
- How is intraday connected across Europe?
- Through SIDC (Single Intraday Coupling) — the EU-wide continuous intraday market under CACM Regulation (EU) 2015/1222. Estonia is fully integrated. Cross-border trades match in real time as long as cross-zonal capacity remains; the algorithm allocates capacity continuously rather than in discrete auctions.
- When does intraday gate close in Estonia?
- Cross-border intraday trading on SIDC closes at the EU-standard 60 minutes before delivery. Local Estonian intraday continues for a further 30 minutes — closing 30 minutes before delivery — but only matches against EE-zone-internal counterparties at that point. After local close, market participants are committed; any remaining position deviation is settled at the imbalance price.