italy

The 400 kV transmission link between Montenegro and Italy is not just another piece of cross-border infrastructure. It is a structural intervention in the Western Balkan–Italian power market, one that redefines price formation, balancing flows, investment logic and long-term system liabilities on both sides of the Adriatic. In practical terms, it turns Montenegro from a peripheral, […]

Electricity market coupling is often discussed in technical or commercial terms, but its most profound effects are political. By linking Montenegro’s market directly to Italy’s, coupling effectively removes the border as a buffer between domestic energy policy and European price formation. This fundamentally constrains the scope for unilateral intervention in the power sector. Before coupling,

For much of the past decade, the dominant assumption shaping policy and market design in Southeast Europe has been that electricity market integration would follow a linear path. National markets would first converge regionally, harmonising rules and price formation across the Balkans, and only then gradually integrate into the wider European internal electricity market. The