Statnett and Svenska kraftnät launch talks to replace Nordic common services agreement underpinning reserve markets

Statnett and Svenska kraftnät, the two Common Service Providers for the Nordic TSOs, have initiated negotiations to establish a new cooperation structure for the common services that support the Nordic reserve markets, and intend to terminate the existing cooperation agreement in favor of an interim agreement pending a new model.

The common services arrangement underpins the operation of the Nordic aFRR capacity market, the mFRR capacity market and the mFRR energy activation market, as well as the implementation of MARI. A restructuring of the underlying TSO cooperation agreement could affect how these reserve markets are operated and governed, even though the TSOs aim to avoid disruption.

This is an early-stage institutional/governance event rather than a market rule change per se: two Common Service Providers are renegotiating the foundational cooperation agreement that enables joint provision of common services to the Nordic reserve markets. While the stated intent is continuity—preserving the aFRR capacity market, mFRR capacity market, mFRR energy activation market and MARI implementation—the source explicitly flags that changes to the current market setup cannot be ruled out. This creates latent design risk across Nordic balancing markets until a new cooperation model is negotiated and an interim agreement is formalized. Market participants and other Nordic TSOs (including Energinet, Fingrid) should monitor for subsequent announcements detailing the interim agreement terms and the shape of the eventual replacement model, as these could alter governance, cost-sharing, or operational responsibilities for shared balancing infrastructure.

Existing Nordic TSO cooperation agreement on common services (to be terminated and replaced, with an interim agreement in the meantime)

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Primary sources