50Hertz Program¶
Snapshot, not the authority
This page describes 50Hertz's current challenge schedule and rewards.
The API is always authoritative - read gate_closure, start_datetime and
end_datetime from the challenge you are targeting rather than hard-coding
anything below.
Resources: 50Hertz assets · Timezone: CET/CEST · Forecast variables: Q10, Q50, Q90
Forecast targets & data sources¶
50Hertz runs two resources. Both are control-area totals for the 50Hertz
zone in eastern Germany (ENTSO-E bidding zone 10YDE-VE-------2), scored against
the ENTSO-E Transparency Platform, the public European register of realised
generation.
germany_solar_50hertz_ca¶
Actual solar generation across the whole 50Hertz control area.
| Quantity | Realised solar generation, control-area total |
| Unit | MW, mean power over the interval |
| Resolution | 15 min |
| Local time | Europe/Berlin (CET/CEST) |
| Boundary | Bidding zone 10YDE-VE-------2 (50Hertz) |
Ground truth. ENTSO-E Transparency Platform,
actual generation per production type:
document type A75, process type A16 (realised), PSR type B16 (solar),
in-domain 10YDE-VE-------2.
Why overnight values are a real zero, not a gap
ENTSO-E encodes these curves as curveType A03: a position whose value
repeats the previous one is omitted from the XML. Solar at night is a
flat 0, so the platform ships one position and then jumps hours ahead. The
ingestion rebuilds the full 15-minute grid by carrying the last value
forward, exactly as the Transparency Platform portal does, so the target
reads 0 MW overnight rather than missing.
germany_wind_50hertz_ca¶
Actual wind generation across the control area, onshore and offshore combined.
| Quantity | Realised wind generation, control-area total |
| Unit | MW, mean power over the interval |
| Resolution | 15 min |
| Local time | Europe/Berlin (CET/CEST) |
| Boundary | Bidding zone 10YDE-VE-------2 (50Hertz) |
Ground truth. Same endpoint and codes as solar, with PSR types B18 (wind
offshore) and B19 (wind onshore). ENTSO-E publishes the two separately and the
target is their per-timestamp sum; where one series is missing a point, its
last value is carried forward before summing, matching the portal's own display.
Revisions & settlement¶
Measurements are not final when first published. Both resources are re-imported daily over a rolling 35-day window as ENTSO-E revises, then frozen on day 6 of the following month. A daily score computed before that freeze can still move; the monthly ranking is computed from settled data.
To pull the history yourself, see Downloading Raw Data.
Challenge schedule¶
Market sessions open every hour on the hour (see Sessions & Challenges). 50Hertz publishes a single Day-Ahead (D+1) challenge per day:
| Category | Target window | Published at (gate closure, CET) |
|---|---|---|
| Day-Ahead (D+1) | The next calendar day (00:00 → 24:00 local). | 15:00 (day before target) |
No intraday or extended (D+N) challenges are published.
Live schedule
The table above is a snapshot of the current configuration. For the exact, current openings of a specific resource, open the Schedule page in your dashboard (https://predico.inesctec.pt/schedule, login required).
Eligibility & missed-day rules¶
- At most 5 missed days per month to remain eligible for the monthly league. Daily rewards remain available regardless.
- For each missed day, the day's peer 75th-percentile score is substituted into your monthly average.
Prize distribution¶
Each market resource has a €7,000 monthly prize pool, paid entirely to participating forecasters. The reward mechanism is identical to the Elia program (see Rewards); 50Hertz publishes only the Day-Ahead horizon, so the pool covers two envelopes rather than four.
Where the €7,000 goes¶
The pool is split by track (deterministic vs probabilistic). With a single published horizon, each track is a single envelope:
| Track | Day-Ahead (D+1) | Track total |
|---|---|---|
| Deterministic (Q50 · RMSE) | €3,500 | €3,500 |
| Probabilistic (Q10/Q90 · MWI) | €3,500 | €3,500 |
| Horizon total | €7,000 | €7,000 |
A forecaster therefore competes for two independent €3,500 envelopes per resource each month - one per track. Each envelope is distributed identically (see below), so the rules only need to be understood once.
How each €3,500 envelope is distributed¶
The probabilistic envelope absorbs the max-error allocation into a larger Elite pot (€1,750 vs €1,550). Daily, Challenger, and Runner-Up amounts are identical across both tracks.
The full breakdown by league and monthly rank:
Deterministic (Q50 · RMSE)¶
Per €3,500 envelope.
| League | Monthly Rank | Budget | Budget Allocation | Extra | Daily Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elite | 1st | €1,550 | €560 (36%) |
€200 to the Elite forecaster with the lowest peak error (split equally if tied) |
Daily pool: €1,000 per envelope, per month. Split evenly across the days of the month, then distributed to the top 5 by daily rank:
|
| 2nd | €360 (23%) | ||||
| 3rd | €250 (16%) | ||||
| 4th | €200 (13%) | ||||
| 5th | €180 (12%) | ||||
| Challenger | 6th | €700 | €140 each Evenly split (20% each) |
- | |
| 7th | |||||
| 8th | |||||
| 9th | |||||
| 10th | |||||
| Runner-Up | 11th | €50 | €50 (100%) | - | |
| Outside | 12th+ | €0 | - | - |
Probabilistic (Q10/Q90 · MWI)¶
Per €3,500 envelope.
| League | Monthly Rank | Budget | Budget Allocation | Extra | Daily Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elite | 1st | €1,750 | €600 (34%) | - (deterministic track only) |
Daily pool: €1,000 per envelope, per month. Split evenly across the days of the month, then distributed to the top 5 by daily rank:
|
| 2nd | €400 (23%) | ||||
| 3rd | €300 (17%) | ||||
| 4th | €240 (14%) | ||||
| 5th | €210 (12%) | ||||
| Challenger | 6th | €700 | €140 each Evenly split (20% each) |
||
| 7th | |||||
| 8th | |||||
| 9th | |||||
| 10th | |||||
| Runner-Up | 11th | €50 | €50 (100%) | ||
| Outside | 12th+ | €0 | - |
Why a stepped Elite split and a flat Challenger split?
By design, the worst Elite forecaster (rank 5: €180 Det / €210 Prob) still earns more than any Challenger forecaster (€140 each, ranks 6–10). This rewards consistent month-long top performance over a single strong day.
Fewer than 11 forecasters?
Unallocated league positions roll over to that envelope's daily-reward pool. Example: with 8 active market forecasters, the unassigned Challenger League and Runner-Up shares are added to the day pool.