According to European transmission system operators (TSOs), another process for calculating cross-border electricity trading capacities went live on Oct. 14, 2026. Eighteen grid operators from the European Core region are participating in the new calculation procedure for intraday electricity trading, known as Intraday Capacity Calculation, or IDCC(e), including the four German TSOs 50Hertz, Amprion, TenneT, and TransnetBW. The launch completes the phased rollout of intraday flow-based capacity calculation.
Updating trading capacities is significant for the marketing of renewable energy because forecasts for weather-dependent power generation change throughout the day. Direct marketers of renewable power can respond to such changes in intraday trading. Recalculating cross-border capacities can open up additional trading opportunities, provided the respective grid situation permits it.
Battery storage relevance
The development can also be relevant for battery storage operators, as they buy and sell electricity at short notice. However, whether this results in higher revenues or lower marketing costs depends on the available trading capacities and the respective market situation.
The new process recalculates the available trading capacities between European bidding zones on the respective delivery day. According to the documentation, the results are made available daily at around 4:00 p.m. and are used for coupled European intraday trading. They apply to the delivery hours between 6:00 p.m. and midnight.
The process is based on flow-based capacity calculation, which considers not only the capacities of individual cross-border interconnectors, but also the potential power flows across the interconnected transmission grid. The goal is to determine the capacities available for cross-border trade as efficiently as possible while maintaining grid operational security.
The various calculation processes have been introduced in stages. The IDCC(d) process already went into operation in April 2026, providing updated capacities in the morning for the remainder of the day. With IDCC(e), an additional calculation in the afternoon has now been added. The results are made accessible via the publication tool of the Joint Allocation Office (JAO).
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