Market coupling between electricity markets: theory and empirical evidence for the Italian-Slovenian interconnection

Since January 1, 2011 the electricity exchanges of Italy and Slovenia are working under a mechanism of market coupling for their respective day-ahead sessions. Similar mechanisms are being implemented in many European countries to foster the integration of power markets that eventually will merge into one large European exchange. This paper is one of the first works in which, by analyzing market results, we try and assess the degree of integration of the Italian and Slovenian electricity markets due to the market coupling policy. Empirical results are useful to evaluate the success of the EU Price Coupling of Regions policy and suggest further enhancements.