Markets with multiple specific characteristics

The gas and electricity markets have many peculiarities.

• the electricity demand varies greatly from year to year or day to day and even in the course of one day. The gas demand, on the other hand, depends mainly on the outside temperature
• it is virtually impossible to store electricity. The production of certain types of renewable energy (wind power but especially solar power) is difficult to predict. The gas storage capacity is limited in Belgium
• electricity and gas prices on wholesale markets fluctuate significantly, in particular depending on the production capacities available at the time of demand, both locally and structurally. EDF Luminus must therefore continually make a choice between generating electricity itself (if the production cost is lower than the purchase cost on the wholesale market) and buying electricity on the market, by selling the gas surplus

These specific characteristics have various consequences.

• the transmission operator has to monitor the balance between supply and demand in their area to avoid a blackout
• producers such as EDF Luminus have to be able to inject the amount of energy used by their customers into the network at the desired time

More information on the risk of electricity shortages in Belgium

A dedicated team to optimise the balance between supply and demand

To optimise the different available resources and to fulfil its commitments to its customers at the lowest possible cost, EDF Luminus makes use of a local team, the Optimisation department.

Its mission? To protect the company and its customers against the uncertainties linked to the fluctuations in demand and against any unexpected unavailability of the production facilities. The company aims in fact to cover its risks by means of flexible contracts to purchase and sell at a predetermined price.

This team ensures the optimisation on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. For this purpose, it relies on the expertise of EDF Trading  to take advantage of opportunities occurring in the wholesale market.