Day-ahead market
The day-ahead market is the wholesale auction that prices each hour of tomorrow's electricity, today. In Estonia the day-ahead market is operated by the NEMO Nord Pool, with hourly auctions for the EE bidding zone clearing alongside Continental Europe under the SDAC mechanism. The clearing price is the spot price reference for nearly every other electricity contract.
The day-ahead market is the wholesale auction that prices each hour of tomorrow's electricity, today. Bids close at 12:00 CET; an algorithm — implemented across Europe via the Single Day-Ahead Coupling (SDAC) mechanism under CACM Regulation (EU) 2015/1222 — clears every bidding zone simultaneously, producing 24 hourly prices that anchor essentially every retail tariff and PPA reference rate.
How clearing works
In Estonia the day-ahead market is operated by Nord Pool, the designated NEMO. Generators submit supply curves; suppliers and large consumers submit demand curves; the algorithm finds the price at which supply equals demand for the EE bidding zone, subject to cross-border transmission constraints with FI, LV and SE4. Successful bids are settled at the marginal clearing price — pay-as-clear, not pay-as-bid.
What anchors to the day-ahead price
Day-ahead prices are the spot price reference for nearly every other market. Imbalance prices are derived from the spread between day-ahead and the activated balancing energy. Spot tariffs (used by most Volton retail customers) pass the hourly day-ahead price through to consumption. Forward contracts and PPAs typically reference the day-ahead clearing price as their settlement basis.
Day-ahead vs intraday
After day-ahead gate closure, residual mismatches between forecast and reality are cleaned up on the intraday market — a continuous order book that runs until close to physical delivery. For BRPs, the day-ahead position is the headline number; intraday is where forecast errors get worked out before settling at imbalance prices.
Biežāk uzdotie jautājumi
- What is the day-ahead electricity market?
- The day-ahead market is the wholesale electricity auction that prices each Market Time Unit of tomorrow today. Bids and offers from generators, suppliers and traders go in by noon (12:00 CET), the SDAC algorithm matches them across all coupled European bidding zones, and the clearing price for each MTU is published around 12:45–13:00. In Estonia (EE bidding zone), Nord Pool runs the auction. From 1 October 2025 the MTU is 15 minutes, replacing the legacy hourly slot.
- How does day-ahead clearing work in Estonia?
- Estonia is fully integrated with SDAC (Single Day-Ahead Coupling). The Euphemia algorithm clears the EE bidding zone simultaneously with FI, LV, LT, SE, NO, DK and the rest of Continental Europe, using available cross-zonal capacity from the Capacity Calculation Region (Baltic CCR for EE). Clearing prices reflect the marginal generation needed to meet demand in each zone after cross-border flows.
- What's the difference between day-ahead and intraday?
- Day-ahead is a single noon auction for next-day delivery; intraday is a continuous order book that opens after day-ahead gate closure and runs until close to physical delivery. Day-ahead is where most volume clears; intraday is where positions get adjusted for forecast updates between noon and delivery. Both are operated by Nord Pool in Estonia.
- Why does the day-ahead price affect retail tariffs?
- Estonian residential tariffs are mostly indexed: the customer pays the day-ahead spot price plus a small supplier margin. So when the day-ahead clears at €100/MWh, retail consumers see a price close to that. That is why wholesale-market events (cold snaps, generator outages) translate quickly into household bills — a feature of "open supply" contracts.
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