As expected, the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) has finally published the regulations governing the implementation of the quarter-hour market in Spain in the Official State Gazette (BOE) .

This will come into effect on March 17 and represents a structural change in energy marketing and responds to the requirements of European Regulation 2019/943, which requires electricity markets to operate with a 15-minute settlement unit.

The quarter-hour market seeks to improve efficiency in supply and demand management , allowing for greater integration of renewable energy and facilitating a better response to consumption fluctuations.

Until now, the Spanish wholesale market operated with hourly settlements, but with this change, transactions will have to be adjusted to 15-minute periods .

According to the CNMC, the new regulation will allow for greater granularity in trading , optimizing the efficiency of the electricity market and facilitating the integration of technologies such as storage and demand management.

Keys to the regulations published in the BOE

• Replacement of the hourly settlement system with 15-minute periods in the daily and intraday markets.
• Modification of the bid typologies , eliminating the traditional complex MIBEL bids and establishing new categories such as “Scalable Complex Orders” and “Simple Blocks.”
• Adaptation of the financial settlement , adjusting the calculation of collection rights and payment obligations of agents based on the new time structure.
• Reforms to the operation of the intraday and daily markets , aligning their operation with the European market coupling system (Single Day-Ahead Coupling – SDAC – and Single Intraday Coupling – SIDC -).
• Compliance with the REMIT II regulation , which introduces new transaction data reporting obligations to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

These changes not only affect wholesale markets, but also have direct repercussions for retailers, generators, and industrial consumers , who will have to adapt their electricity purchasing and sales strategies.

The electricity sector is undergoing a phase of accelerated transformation , in which digitalization is becoming key to competitiveness.

Carlos Martín Graña , Head of Operations at ENERJOIN emphasizes that this change “forces all market participants to increase their management capacity, increasing from 24 daily values to 96, which represents a technical and operational challenge.”

For companies with automated systems, the transition will be smoother, but those still operating with traditional methodologies could face cost overruns and difficulties in managing deviations .

“Anything that isn’t digitalized is dead,” he warns in an interview with Strategic Energy Europe , emphasizing the need for advanced tools to optimize operations under the new framework.

With the publication of this regulation in the Official State Gazette (BOE), the CNMC marks a turning point in the Spanish electricity sector , laying the groundwork for a more dynamic market aligned with European standards.

However, its success will depend on the ability of companies to adapt.