Working Paper
Three steps to a regional capacity market in the EU
05 November 2025

Authors: MENEGATTI, Emma Solène; MEEUS, Leonardo

The electricity market design reform repositioned capacity markets: they are no longer regarded as last-resort, temporary measures. In practice, their perimeter is also expected to expand, with at least seven additional countries considering introducing one. This shift opens the door for capacity markets to become a key driver of investments and a central influence on the EU electricity mix. Yet, the national nature of these schemes can result in costly cross-border coordination inefficiencies. Against this backdrop, the idea of integrating capacity markets across borders, or “regionalisation”, has attracted growing attention from stakeholders. This paper contributes to that debate by proposing three steps toward the regionalisation of European capacity markets: (1) regional supply pooling, (2) centralized regional capacity demand, and (3) decentralized capacity demand. We assess these steps against two policy objectives: selecting the least-cost generation capacity across borders, and avoiding under- or over-procurement. We moreover discuss prerequisites to their feasibility, and drivers of political acceptability.
logo cadmus Read it on Cadmus Download in open access

LATEST FSR PUBLICATIONS

Policy Paper
Large-scale CO2 transport infrastructure is crucial for achieving decarbonization goals, yet its deployment remains slow. This paper maps emerging CO2 transport governance models across two dimensions: State-led policies and Economic [...]
Policy Brief
The aviation industry is leading the technological revolution in transport and is focusing on improved safety, efficiency and sustainability. Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) is the European Union’s flagship [...]
Contribution to book

Join our community

To meet, discuss and learn in the channel that suits you best.

scroll

top