Nasdaq OMX, the transatlantic exchange group, is set to launch Britain's first electricity exchange after winning a contract to create a power market to match the highly successful ones in Scandinavia and Germany.

The group, which runs the Nord Pool power exchange in Scandinavia, has been chosen to run the market by a group of energy companies and financial institutions after a competitive tender organised by the Futures and Options Association, a London-based industry body whose members are the main participants in exchange-traded derivatives.