Origination & Environmental Markets

Established in October 2009 and geared towards a successful pan-European presence, the Origination & Environmental Markets business unit is in charge of the origination activities of the Multi Commodities & Fuel Management business unit as well as parts of the Regulatory & Development business unit, which has been dissolved. The unit had a successful financial year. Alpiq is the leader in environmental markets, a position which was further underpinned through the coordination of the "green desks" of Atel and EOS.

Success for green power marketing

Last year saw the start of important work aimed at centralising the management of the Group's CO2 position. Implementation is planned for 2010. The Green Power Marketing Conference, strongly endorsed by Alpiq and held in Geneva at the beginning of October 2009, proved a huge success. More than 170 participants from all over Europe discussed the future development of the European market for renewable energies with politicians and policymakers from Brussels and Bern.The economic downturn drove down the prices in energy markets. At the same time, trading volumes declined and the counterparty risk increased. Against this backdrop, Alpiq succeeded in exploiting various opportunities. Trading in green electricity performed well in a challenging regulatory environment. One factor worth mentioning is the new EU directive on renewable energies, which should inject fresh impetus into this market.

Promising potential of green certificates

The potential for development of green certificates will be influenced both by the aforementioned EU directive and by the trend in the voluntary market. As far as the political and regulatory environment is concerned, the following developments and projects are of relevance to Alpiq: market coupling initiatives at European level, monitoring and transparency requirements, implementation of the EU's third energy market package, the development of new gas infrastructure (storage and capacities) and related regulations governing market access.