New research by independent market analyst Datamonitor suggests that the size and speed of wholesale traded gas and power market development will continue to vary widely across Europe even in the decade following full market opening in July 2007.
According to the report, current levels of wholesale market maturity and development reflect the disparate and incongruent nature of Europe’s energy markets. Andrew Hill, Datamonitor energy markets analyst, says: “In the wholesale power arena levels of liquidity and development are less influenced by market size and instead driven more by market structure and competitive dynamics.” This contrasts with the wholesale gas markets where levels of maturity vary significantly and are often influenced by market size.
The ongoing liberalisation process, which will culminate in full market opening in July 2007, means that one of the next major phases of European market development will be at the wholesale end of the value chain, Hill says. “As European energy markets liberalise, the need for- and development of- wholesale traded markets grows.”