25 years of the power exchange - EEX takes a look at Brazil

The Leipzig electricity exchange is looking at other countries 25 years after its launch. "The next big market we are targeting is Brazil," EEX CEO Peter Reitz told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. "In Europe, I see great potential for the Scandinavian electricity markets, but there is also a lot of development potential in Asia. In Japan, for example." In contrast, China, the world's second largest economy, does not play a role because there is no free competition between electricity providers there and the market is closed off.

Almost 670 million euros in turnover last year

The first day of trading on the electricity exchange in Leipzig was June 15, 2000. Started 25 years ago with 35 employees, today almost 1,200 people work for the EEX Group with its 25 locations worldwide from Denver to Tokyo.

The company no longer only trades electricity, but also gas and CO2 certificates, for example. Last year, turnover rose to just under EUR 670 million - an increase of 16 percent on the previous year. "The EEX is now the largest power exchange in the world," said Reitz. The largest shareholder is Deutsche Börse AG with a good 75 percent, the state of Saxony also holds shares (3 percent).

In addition to new markets, the EEX also wants to grow by attracting even more electricity and gas from the over-the-counter market to the exchange. But also new energy sources - green hydrogen is to be traded in future. It is considered important, for example, to make steelworks and chemical plants climate-neutral. The trading platform for this has already been developed and the first customers have already signed up, said Reitz. "The first auction is due to take place next year."